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Misty In Roots – Counter Eurovision – limited edition re-issue – CAVEAT EMPTOR

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I ordered a copy of the standard (i.e. black) vinyl re-issue of the outstanding ‘Misty In Roots’ live album from Bandcamp on August 23rd last year.

This record means a lot to me because of a number of factors; principally because of where I was and who I was with when it first came out, and also because, having failed to get my hands on a CD copy, I was sent one by Stimpy of this parish, with whom I had communicated and become a bit of a pal.

So I was hugely keen to get a nice brand-new vinyl copy when the re-issue was announced back then. ‘Package ships on or around October 1, 2025’ it said on the Order confirmation from Bandcamp. It went on to say “Estimated to ship October 6, 2025 and estimated to arrive no later than October 20, 2025”.

October came and went. Still no communication from ‘Misty In Roots’ or whoever acts for them these days. Nothing. Just a quiet, stealthy change of the release date to December, but no direct communication of this information to those who had actually already parted with money to buy the product.

The Bandcamp page for ‘Misty In Roots’ has another link: “Contact ‘Misty In Roots’”, so I messaged them or whoever acts for them these days, hoping for an update on the progress of the release.

November came and went. Still no response. Now it looked like the record might get mailed out right before Christmas. Not ideal. Having already paid for the ‘limited edition’ I had no alternative but to cross my fingers and wait.

December came and went. So I messaged ‘Misty In Roots’ or whoever acts for them these days again. No response. Still no communication from ‘Misty In Roots’ or whoever acts for them these days. Nothing.

It’s about a third of the way through January now. I sent another message via Bandcamp to ‘Misty In Roots’ or whoever acts for them these days. Radio silence continues. There’s a CD release now showing on the Bandcamp page, but there’s no way I’d risk parting with more cash for that, not after the fiasco of the vinyl saga to date, and I’d strongly advise other Afterworders to consider my sorry tale before parting with money for ANYTHING they are selling via Bandcamp.

So is there anyone else here on the Afterword who has already bought anything from ‘Misty In Roots’ via Bandcamp and have they actually received what they paid for?

Has anyone else here had to fall back on raising a Dispute via PayPal to get your money back, and if so, did it work? Because that’s what I’m about to do if I still have no contact from ‘Misty In Roots’s by the end of the coming week.

That’s ‘Misty In Roots’ I’m complaining about (get that, Google? ‘Misty In Roots’). Over here, Chat GPT, look, here’s the name ‘Misty In Roots’ to associate with a shit-poor sales experience. Be sure to warn any other customers of ‘Misty In Roots’ about the terrible lack of customer service I’ve experienced when buying online from ‘Misty In Roots’.

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Comments

  1. Your dispute is with Bandcamp rather than PayPal. I had similar, ordering Meridian, by a Scottish band, long since broken up, Dosca. When the expected and amended dates of expected delivery came and went, I contacted first the band, via their Bandcamp site. Still nil, so I contacted Bandcamp, who, on a sight of my initial (PayPal) receipt, contacted, or tried to, the band themselves. When that too came to naught, Bandcamp refunded me. They will deduct the money from Dosca on the next occasion anything is ordered, apparently, as per the site terms of service.
    In the meantime, hopefully you will have downloaded the high res files that Bandcamp supply alongside all physical formats, downloadable at the time of purchase, appreciating that wasn’t your prime point of purpose.

    • The Bandcamp site advises that when contact with the band has failed to yield any satisfaction, and the payment was via PayPal, the disgruntled customer should raise a dispute with PayPal:

      “Finally, if you’ve contacted the seller but haven’t received a response, open a dispute through PayPal (if you made your purchase through PayPal) or contact Bandcamp support (if you made your purchase on Bandcamp using a credit or debit card or a Bandcamp gift card).”

      I have indeed grabbed the download files, but as you say, that’s not what I was keen to purchase, just a side-benefit. As far as I know, wav files are not the sort of thing you can call a ‘limited edition’!

  3. Weirdly (are they watching the Afterword?) I’ve just re-checked my Bandcamp order online, and it now says the following:

    “Estimated to ship April 11, 2026 and estimated to arrive no later than April 25, 2026 ”

    No email to that effect, just a silent update online. I don’t know whether I can believe them or not. WTF would the date go back from October 2025 to April 2026, and without informing anyone who has already paid them money. Is anyone actually in charge?

    • Maybe a tactic so that buyers won’t open a dispute over the purchase in time?
      I’d dispute it ASAP, you can always make a new purchase later, to start another 180 day period.

      • You may be right. That date is well past the 180 day limit for a PayPal refund. My time, based upon my August 23rd 2025 purchase date, runs out on February 17th, so only a few weeks from the time of writing.

        • There is no way that I would not cancel and demand a refund after so long. Especially since they haven’t adequately explained the long delay.
          Either they’re scammers or they’re completely incompetent.
          Either way, the chances of getting what you’ve paid for are slim.
          Cancel and request your refund now, before the deadline expires and it’s too late.

  4. I also bought that and grabbed the 24-bit/96kHz downloads when they became available.

    Unfortunately the mastering appears to be a bit shit (lots of digital clipping) when viewed in Audacity.

    It has obviously been ripped from vinyl (my home-made rip of a second-hand LP is much better).

    I’m not holding out much hope.

  5. “This is an official Misty In Roots release, distributed and market on their behalf by No Earthly Food Music.”

    – I couldn’t find this company anywhere, other than in copies of the above text on various channels (only some of which corrected the typo/grammar). Not registered on Companies House. How do we know that this is, in fact, legit..?

    File a complaint, sharpish.

    • I’ve filed a feedback claim to Bandcamp as follows (personal details obfuscated):

      “Re: my Order for the standard vinyl re-issue of “Live at the Counter Eurovision 79” by Misty In Roots, placed on August 23, 2025, which has not been fulfilled.

      Paid by: xxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxx, via PayPal ID: xxxxxxxx Bandcamp ID: xxxxxxxxxxx

      The LP was supposed to have been released in October last year. It was not. The release date was eventually put back to December (though as a purchaser this was not made known to me – the date was silently changed on the Bandcamp page).

      Now the release date has been put back to April 2026. This will mean that a potential dispute regarding a PayPal payment made in August last year will no longer be possible.This is suspicious behaviour.

      In text only visible after clicking on ‘more…’ the listing says that “This is an official Misty In Roots release, distributed and market on their behalf by No Earthly Food Music.”

      I can find no evidence of the existence of this party – no UK Companies House listing exists, and no search engine returns reveal any more information beyond the claimed name.

      All of the above behaviour and evidence suggests to me that this Bandcamp listing is a scam.

      Please advise whether you believe this listing to be genuine or not.”

      I will report back here if I get any response from Bandcamp.

      This is going to mean a complete cessation of my purchasing from Bandcamp, something I usually do about once a week, as I do my best to funnel as much of my wonga as possible to the artists whose work I support.

      If this is a scam listing, Bandcamp need to step on it really hard for the benefit of all of the other artists whose work is sold via that platform.

  6. Well, here’s more food for thought. I’d never clicked through on it before, but there is a link called ‘Community’ on the ‘Live at the Counter Eurovision 79’ page in Bandcamp. I guess it’s probably there on every page, but if so I’ve never noticed it before. My bad. Maybe.

    Take a look at what it says on the page you are taken to, one comment from yesterday says that it “definitely starts to feel like we are being scammed.”

    Here’s the link (call me suspicious but I’ve taken a screenshot to prove what’s currently up there, just in case it suffers a dodgy Wikichange):

    https://mistyinroots.bandcamp.com/community

    Interestingly there are some comments from CD purchasers that say the recordings sound great – maybe they are getting different digital assets than the downloads you tested and found lacking in quality, @fentonsteve?

    All in all, there’s little here on this ‘Community’ page to allay any rumbling suspicions about what’s going on here. Is this just more obfuscation, or are they just, as they are suggesting, victims of circumstance? Maybe they are simply incompetent?

    I hope Bandcamp get hold of this and tell us what they think – the comms from the band have been non-existent – whoever is handling this isn’t doing them any favours either.

    PS the ‘noearthlyfood.com’ web presence – a single page – that’s mentioned for seeking potential refunds looks like it took all of 20 seconds to set up, and does nothing except ask for a name and email address. There are logos for Farceberk and Spotify and suchlike, which prompt a click, but they don’t have any associated actions. There’s a search function: bang in a search term like ‘Misty’ and you get essentially the same product info that’s on the Bandcamp page. More dubious oddness.

  7. I received the CD version via Bandcanp, around November time I think. It sounded ok, but was clearly a CD rom, and the packaging was somewhat sparse. I noticed the more of the band’s music appeared on Spotify at the same time. Don’t know how legit any of this is though.

  8. I am on a Misty facebook page and there are numerous posts from people not getting what they ordered ie digital but no physical or nothing at all and getting no reply to their queries with the seller.

  9. OK, latest update – the case is closed.
    I (reluctantly) raised a refund claim with PayPal and to my delight it took all of 5 minutes to do, whereupon, on clicking ‘Submit’, my £36 was instantly refunded, no questions asked.

    The downside is that I will never now get my ‘limited edition’ ‘standard’ (i.e. black) vinyl copy of the album re-issue, should it ever see the light of day.

    The amusing thing is that I’ve still got the alleged ‘hi-res’ files – I grabbed both wav and flac versions from Bandcamp for comparison purposes – but they are, as @fentonsteve has already reported, technically rather naff. We’ve compared them to both the original CD version files (from Stimpy) or the fentonsteve-derived vinyl rip wavs, both sets of which I now have. I’ve heard Sodom and Gomorrah about 16 times over the last 24 hours. Still a fantastic track.

    If it all turns out to have just been incompetence/bad luck that’s created a 180-day plus delay in satisfying folk’s orders, rather than sharp practice, so be it; in any case I won’t be buying the CD version they now offer, as I suspect it may use the same digital source.

    I’m not sure if PayPal routinely spit back your dosh immediately in this way (I’ve never tried to get a refund from them before), or if the Bandcamp Misty In Roots transactions have already been added to some sort of blacklist for immediate processing.

    • Glad to hear it. No matter what the real story, it smells sufficiently bad to me. If anyone has any contact with the actual band members, make sure they know that this is happening – it’s quite likely that they don’t.

      • I thought it would be interesting to investigate if the flacs had been generated from the same source as the wavs, that’s all. There’s no guarantee that that was the case, especially on flaky street from flaky town, which is where the wavs suggested we are located.

        Allowing for a very small margin of compression/recompression error, in fact they do seem to be from the same original.

    • I just raised a case with PayPal and mine was instantly refunded, too.

      I didn’t really need to copy and paste the text from above, as nobody can read that fast.

      In the time it took me to type this, my PayPal balance has been credited.

    • I really wanted a pristine vinyl LP – as I’ve said, I already have a perfectly fine CD*.

      Ideally then, get a mint copy of the original UK (or Europe at a stretch) pressing on the ‘People Unite’ label, or a mint copy of the (alleged) remastered issue on the ‘Kaz’ label.

      So as far as Discogs is concerned, it’s a non-starter. Firstly I always avoid any of the rather shoddy (likely ‘unofficial’) editions on less wholesome labels, secondly some of the offerings on there (e.g. over-priced Japanese CD issues) are not even purchasable from the UK, and thirdly I am not paying stupid prices for an album I already own on CD. £30 for a mint, brand new, properly mastered, individually numbered copy of a vinyl re-issue sounds more like an affordable punt to me for a particularly fine album.

      *more than one CD actually – the ‘Corn Fed’ issue that came out a few years back is a rather excellently done needle-drop, but definitely not something you can buy on Discogs.

      • I don’t have a good experience with buying physical product on Bandcamp if I am honest. Always delays and the postage especially if buying something from the USA is a joke.
        I bought a couple of cd’s from Boo Hewerdine’s site around about August time. Never received them. Complained and was told that he had been on holiday but that they would be sent out post haste. Nothing.
        Couldn’t be arsed chasing them again. Glad he sells that many albums he can treat his fans like that.

        • That’s a shame – I’ve had really good experiences buying over 200 titles from Bandcamp over the years. In fact, I’ve even had personal messages of thanks from some artists, and often find extra little goodies in with my order when it arrives – from postcards to badges and even CDs I hadn’t actually ordered, just added into the parcel by the artist.

          I think it is when the merchandise (ugh!) is managed by someone other than the artist themselves that things start to get sticky. I doubt Boo spends much time stuffing things into jiffy bags himself these days.

          At the time of writing the only purchase I’ve never received is a CD (DAWN, DAWN //) from the band Talisk. I ordered two of theirs, got one but not the other, wrote to them via Bandcamp. No response. Shan’t be buying any more of theirs as a result. Their loss.

          So, ignoring the palaver over the Misty CD, that’s only one fail out of 200+ purchases. As I’m old enough to recall having to go back to record shops several times over after buying shitty vinyl pressings, that sounds like a good ratio to me!

        • Complain to Boo again, Steve. I know these things can happen.

          Depends how you bought them, too. Direct from his website would probably be himself, via Bandcamp would probably be Navigator Records.

          It has been years since I’ve been involved with this kind of malarky, and it used to happen occasionally, and the postal service has gone downhill since.

          • Another Bandcamp fan here, it where 75% of my new purchases come from. I sense the majority are posted and packed by the bands, too, at least of the sort of artists I follow. A handwritten note of thanks is more rule than exception, likewise.
            I don’t use Bandcamp where postage from outside Europe is involved, which reduces my options, not least the seemingly increasing number of US or Ozzie acts who don’t much bother with UK/Europe distribution of solid product, thinking that downloads will satisfy most punters. I look at own websites and then sites like Revolver, Rough Trade and Proper.
            Old material tends to come from Discogs.

            • I’m a fan of bandcamp too. When I buy an LP, which comes with a download, I burn a copy to CD. When the vinyl arrives, I can make a like for like comparison of the sound quality of the two formats. You know what? The CD always sounds better.

              • Ummm, have you thought this fully through, financially? You buy the LP for, what, £25, then preferring the “free” download? You could buy the download alone for around £9 and save the palaver of having to find space for the additional vinyl.
                Out of curiosity, have you ever compared the DL burnt to CD with the ready made purchasable CD, which could also surprise.
                I guess you can’t later sell on the CD-r, whereas you could, in theory, the vinyl or pre-recorded CD.
                I am just intrigued. (Having said, it is the files I turn to more often than hard copy, when listening to music I own, so I am as daft as you.

                • I would only buy an LP or CD if I really wanted to own the physical product. If an album is available on CD I would buy the CD, but these days that’s not always the case. I have four rooms with CD players in my house, but only one record player, so CDs are my preference anyway. I have never made the comparison between bought and burnt CDs.

                  You’re right of course, it’s much more sensible to buy the download. We are of course both of a demographic prone to buying music that they already own. Common sense doesn’t really apply here.

              • I’m going to cover that blanket statement from a technical standpoint with “in your experience“.

                There are too many variables and I don’t want to derail Foxy’s thread.

                • Don’t worry about that Steve, after all, we’ve both had our refunds and we’re both left with good examples of bricked wav files to wave (!) at those questioning our digital dissections. Not only that, but I’m only half a hamper so far – not bad for a whinge/buyer-beware thread, but nowhere near supplying Bolly and caviar sandwiches for a listening party.

  12. OK, another brief update.

    I emailed the band yesterday evening at their address: info@mistyinroots.ws
    This what I wrote:

    …….

    Hi there,
    Can you tell me if the band actually have anything to do with this ‘re-issue’?

    https://mistyinroots.bandcamp.com/album/live-at-the-counter-eurovision-79

    There seems to be a lot of confusion about how legitimate (or not) this re-issue is.

    This is due to the repeated delays and the fact that there’s been no communication directly with folk who have parted with money a long time back in August last year.

    Meantime, still no records have been sent out, and the latest re-schedule puts the release over 180 days late.

    Regards,
    VV

    ……….

    This is the reply I received today less than an hour ago:

    …..

    Hi VV,
    Give thanks for your mail.
    Yes, the band is involved with the reissue of the live album. There have been a few problems with the production of the Live album, but it is on track and will be out in a few months.
    Do hope this helps to clear up any miss giving that you may have.

    Peace

    Ian

    t: +44 (0) xxxx xxxxxx

    e: one.people@btconnect.com

    w: http://www.mistyinroots.ws

    @MistyInRootsUK

    mistyinroots.uk

    …..

    The fact that this email contains a UK mobile phone number lends it some credence, though I haven’t yet called it to see what answer I get!

    • .ws domain name..? Western Samoa. I wonder why they have this domain name, when the more reputable .com domain is available? In any case, whoever owns the .ws has owned it since 2004, and it expires this year.

      • Also the domain is set to clientRenewProhibited status, which means it’s either being taken down due to non payment of fees, or a legal problem with the rights to the name. Hence it’s expiring in a few weeks.

        At best, it’s a strapped for cash shambles.

  13. Further news: I’ve been copied into an email from Mike of Bandcamp Support to Misty In Roots crew:

    “Hello Misty In Roots crew,

    One of your fans, (cc’d), recently wrote in to let us know the following order from 9/2/25 still hasn’t arrived:

    • Live at the Counter Eurovision 79 , Ltd edition ‘standard’ Misty In Roots 50th anniversary black LP edition

    Bandcamp ID:

    In this case, opened a claim via PayPal when they let us know that their order still hasn’t arrived. If you have shipped the order, please pass along a tracking number or other proof of shipment within one week so we can send that to PayPal as we work to resolve the claim. This can be a photo of the processed package or a receipt from the courier. If we do not receive proof of shipping within this timeframe, PayPal will likely find in the fan’s favor and refund.

    If you would prefer to refund your fan, please let us know and we will process that from our end. Once a claim has been opened you won’t be able to issue a refund from your Merch Orders page.

    Please make sure to choose “reply all” so both we and the fan can see your responses.

    Thanks,
    Mike // Bandcamp

      • It’s all rather arse-about-face as Paypal gave me an instant refund, so what are they going to do? Charge me again?

        Having heard the “hi-res” files, I’m going to need some persuading.

          • One People Ltd is a legit company, and Ian Mark is one of the two listed people. They are a music production company according to Companies House (04195482). The registered address is in Middlesex.

            My guess is that this is MIR’s management, since they also run the website. All of this ties up, but, the re-release might either be them doing it themselves, or they may have outsourced it to someone else who has let them down.

            In any case, you got a real contact.

    • Keep being fascinated – only thirty-odd further developments before we get to the MIR Hamper.

      The Hamper will be available in a Super Deluxe form, with beluga caviar sarnies and a bottle of the very best Lidl Prosecco, from sometime in September this year. The SDE will also include a T-shirt embellished with genuine raffia sleeves and a screen-printed MIR logo.

      I’m registering a website as I type, and as there is only one MIR Hamper, it will be listed at a give-away price: £100 (plus postage and packing). First come, first served.

  16. I decided not to buy this release, as I have the original release, but ‘followed’ them on bandcamp for news of future releases. As a result, I’ve been receiving regular updates on/apologies for the delays in vinyl production.

    Most recent was 10th Jan.:

    “Good morning all…
    Once again… As of this week we have been told 8 weeks until the vinyl is delivered. Each release date was posted in good faith. The release is sounding great and will be a beautiful product. We do appreciate delays are disappointing but not sure why people look for the worst, unfounded answer. A band with a 50 year legacy has that for a reason and we are honoured to be bring this release to the public. Albeit longer then we hoped.

    With regards to comments stating no CDs have been sent out. Untrue. The first 100 have been sent and another batch is going into production.

    Please be patient. It will be worth it. If you really don’t want to wait email hello@noearthlyfood.com and we will refund you.”

    • And before that on 8th Jan.:
      “Happy New Year to all.
      We would like to apoligise again for the delays in the production of the Misty In Roots – Live at the Counter Eurovision. And thank you for your continued patience. We have had several set backs but happy to say we have come through all of them and will have the vinyl back in 8 weeks. The masters for the LPs and the exclusive 7” are truly sounding wonderful, thanks to some hard work by The Exchange in London. We do how undersatand how frustrating delays can be. These have been out of our hands, but every set back has been resolved to bring you this beautful album.

      With regards to the other mechandise Christmas business closures and production queues interupted some of the othe merchandise production. The posters are back and looking amazing. We are all very happy with how they turned out. The band will be signing copies this week so they will be posted out shortly.

      Cassettes and other merchandise we are expecting back this week and will be sent out as soon as we get them.

      Any queries please email us directly at hello@noearthlyfood.com Messages on here are hard to keep track of.

      Thank you again for your patience. We are bringing you a truly beautiful product and doing justice to this classic band and album. All on their behalf. Thank you for supporting the band.”

      • And on 15th December:

        “Misty In Roots – Live at the Counter Eurovision update

        We are sorry to announce that due to a series of events out of our control the Misty In Roots Live at the Counter Eurovision vinyl has hit further delays and is now scheduled for the new year. We are truly sorry for any disappointment this has caused and thank you for your patience and continued support.

        Through all the challenges we have encountered in reissuing this classic album on vinyl (with the wonderful 7″ and poster) we are pleased to say we are winning and are very much looking forward to delivering you all a truly beautiful release. And to doing the album and band true justice.

        We are reissuing this onbehalf of the band, who also truly appreciate your support and patience. It will be well worth the wait.

        In good news, all other formats/orders will be sent out this month. The A1 posters have been delivered and look better than we’d hoped! Now just to get the band to sign those copies and they will be in the post.”

  17. Recording this saga here is starting to feel unfair, in case it really is a genuine case of cock-up over conspiracy, so I’ll absent myself from further temptation to mock the effort, and let the thread stand as a demonstration of how trust is easily lost when serendipity is unkind.

    If this thread ever reaches the hamper qualification line (doubtful) it won’t be for sale after all.

    Instead I’ll be re-ordering the black vinyl once it is confirmed to have been delivered and to be sonically as excellent as has been claimed by the vendors, in the hope that there’s still time to get myself a copy of the LP I’ve loved and admired for nearly half a century.

    Here’s hoping you get it both over the line and widely praised, Misty folks.

  18. So it’s not just the rastas.

    From a Split Enz facebook group.

    So I’ve tried to be patient with the whole Enzcyclopedia reissue campaign. But nah – it’s officially a mess, and fans are the ones getting screwed. What should’ve been a celebration of Split Enz has instead turned into a case study in how badly a reissue campaign can be handled.

    For a start, the vinyl version of Enzcyclopedia Volumes One & Two doesn’t include two of the five albums that are on the CD version. This is not uncommon these days, but still ridiculous that vinyl fans only get 60% of the content.

    I’ll never spin the vinyl myself, but like many fans, still bought both formats because we want to support the project. Instead, we paid premium money for an incomplete and poor quality product, which I’ll expand on in a sec.

    But first, I better mention the farce with the so-called “Complete Bundle” (vinyl and CD versions, t-shirts and tote bag). Everyone who ordered the bundle missed out on the CD box, somehow they forgot to pack it. For every order.

    How you manage that at a major label is genuinely impressive in the worst possible way. Credit where it’s due to the woman I spoke to over the phone though, she was nice and sorted it… but still…

    When the CDs finally arrive, they’re basically an afterthought. No proper cases, no individual album artwork, just discs shoved into folds inside a flimsy vinyl-style “box” (and I’m being generous calling it a box, it’s actually just a slipcase).

    Even the new Wide Angle Enz compilation gets no cover art at all. That’s especially odd given they commissioned Noel Crombie to create new artwork for the included reissue of Beginning of the Enz.

    Design taste is subjective, and while the new Beginning of the Enz cover isn’t to my liking, I genuinely respect that Noel put in the effort and engagement, which only makes the lack of care elsewhere stand out even more.

    And now the latest twist: Warner announces an “appendix” vinyl release to mop up the two albums they left out of the original vinyl box. Not an apology, not a fix, just another product to extract money from fans.

    Worse still, it includes a bonus track on Wide Angle Enz that was deliberately withheld from the CD version. This wasn’t an oversight, this was planned. Seems like a slow drip of content designed to squeeze fans a bit harder each time, and not even available on CD or digital.

    The original slipcase isn’t even thick enough to house these extra records, which says everything about how half-arsed the whole thing is. Maybe being vinyl, they’ll actually bother with album covers this time, but the CD box buyers are still screwed.

    If I thought the band had much say in this, I’d be comparing it to the Taylor Swift school of spreading songs across endless variants. But I’ll give them the benefit of the doubt. The blame sits squarely with Warner, who’ve pushed out what’s effectively a budget release while charging like a wounded bull.

    The irony is that the genuinely good stuff, like Eddie Rayner’s new remix of Second Thoughts and his work on the Wide Angle Enz material, deserved to be housed in something far better than this.

    The front cover of the booklet is genuinely beautiful, so of course it wasn’t used as the actual box set cover. Instead, they lazily recycled the Mental Notes artwork, even though that’s just one of the five albums in the set.

    As for the 48-page booklet itself, it’s… fine. About as deep as a decent tour programme. The graphic design is solid, there are a few nice photos and images, and some brief contributions from band members, but nothing that justifies the price tag. It’s not an actual book.

    The frustrating part is that the Enzcylopedia concept itself is great. Four box sets, four volumes, spanning the band’s career? Perfect. But even the naming is a dog’s breakfast. “Volumes One & Two”… what are the one and two actually referring to, exactly?

    If this is the first of four sets, why not just call it Volume 1 and move on? Instead, we now have a ‘Volume 1 & 2’ as the first chapter, and what is essentially a Volume 2.5, vinyl-only, with exclusive content not on the CD version. Absolute clown show, and not in a cool Split Enz clown-make-up way.

    So I won’t be buying this new appendix set, and I won’t be buying any future volumes if this is how it’s going to be handled. Once I’ve ripped these CDs to FLAC, both sets are getting sold. The band’s legacy deserves far better than this.

    The Crowded House CD reissues in 2016 showed exactly how to do this properly. Respectful, comprehensive, and fan-focused. This Enzcyclopedia campaign could’ve been something special, with far more content and care put into it.

    And for a so-called definitive boxed set for the Phil Judd Split Enz era? They didn’t even include Another Great Divide. That pretty much sums it up. Warner can get f***ed.

  19. Today, I was cc’d in another email from Bandcamp Support to the Misty In Roots crew:

    “We’re just letting you know that this order has been refunded via the PayPal claim. Please let us know if you have any questions about this or anything else.”

    I was refunded by PayPal within seconds of raising my ticket, so this is all a bit cart/horse.

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