Was just shopping on the tax dodgers site and it seems they are no longer listing track names on albums/cd’s – what on earth is the point of that.
One could argue if you are buying a new release cd you don’t need to know the track names but certainly if you are looking at compilations or deluxe versions of releases I would have though it was a pretty basic requirement.
I might start buying somewhere else as this is another sign to me that they want you to be streamed music or kindle books. They can fuck right off whist I have the choice.
What in Gods name are the Tax dodgers playing at?
by 28 Comments
Surely they must do for the mp3 version. Although a bit annoying if that’s what they are doing
Good God. I thought something was different. Appalling.
I checked some classical listings and same story. On the upside I stumbled across this delightfully scathing review of a remaster of the recording of Beethoven’s Ninth.
Jonno
1.0 out of 5 starsVerified Purchase
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 30 January 2017
Murder by remaster
Can I give this one zero or negative stars? No? Then a paltry one star will have to suffice to mark my dismay and anger at this release. Let me first say this is a fine, brisk performance, very much in the Toscanini mould, with a stellar array of soloists. So, my ire is not aimed at the performance, but at the ham-fisted remastering engineers who have murdered the sound of this once-fine Living Stereo. Shaded Dogs have been a gold standard in fine sound and performance since the late 50’s. I have many in the original vinyl, together with various subsequent generations of re-cuts on vinyl and – latterly – transfers to high resolution digital for SACD and download. I actually auditioned this recording in 24/192 PCM – in other words, with vastly superior bit rates to lowly CD. Quite simply, it was so bad that I was forced to switch off after 2 or 3 minutes. It was actually painful to listen to. I can say with some certainty that this is, in fact, the worst Living Stereo remaster I have ever had the misfortune to listen to. As to what it might sound like in lowly CD? I’d really rather not think about it. The faceless Sony wreckers who were responsible for this farrago of noise should do public penance for crimes against music and audio. But they won’t. Working in Sony means that you never have to say sorry… Sony remasters of their historic classical archives have officially sucked for the last few years, but this one officially takes the Booby Prize. If you want to hear Living Stereo done right, then look no further than the BMG/Sound Mirror series from a decade back. But this abortion? Avoid.Run, don’t walk.
As reviewed by Charles Emerson Winchester the third, S Korea.
I like “run, don’t walk”.
If you click onto the MP3 option, you can see the track listing there.
This I have been able to determine that the new Kathleen Edwards album Total Freedom will have 10 tracks and I have already heard tracks 1 to 5.
Not ideal, but the information is there.
One would have thought it took a simple bit of code to ensure that the same information appears on the CD and vinyl purchase options.
But if there is no MP3 option – as can often be the case with rereleases – then no track listing. Oh well, there is always Discogs, but is going to be somewhat frustrating. Why would they do this? They’ve actually had to remove data from umpteen albums. It makes little sense to me.
Complete tossers – but they there is no one you can vent yourself to because there isn’t any fucker interested.
I have started ordering from Resident – they have a nice site, staff who genuinely care. It might cost me a little more but I am happy to support an indie store over these faceless idiots who don’t care what they are selling.
Increasingly, I source used stuff from Discogs. So far I haven’t been burned. Some of the material I seek out is fairly obscure or ancient, and Discogs is a much more reliable source – fewer stupid prices, more honest descriptions of condition, and realistic shipping costs without having to sign up for Prime.
What they seem to have done is ditched the tracklisting (unless you go to mp3 (if available) and replaced it with an image of the back cover – although not in all instances. This only seems to be for stuff they have in their warehouse. Stuff from third party sellers (with no Amazon option) is bereft.
It’s an alternative, but not ideal when browsing box sets
Strange… I’ve just clicked on their listing of the Prince SOTT CD boxset and all the tracks are listed in their lengthy entirety.
And to randomly double-check, I just looked up the REM At The BBC boxset, and all songs are named, present and correct.
@Black-Type that is totally weird. It was specifically the Sign O the Times set that I was looking at earlier because I was comparing the deluxe with the super deluxe or should I say trying to. Tracklisting wasn’t shown and I then looked at a number of albums and it wasnt shown.
After reading your post I went back in there and now they are back
Somehow I cant believe they have read this post.
Some Amazon sites don’t have track listings e.g. Canada. I just go on to one that does, like US or (normally) UK to find out the information.
I just bought a few cheap jazz boxed sets (of the card sleeves in a flimsy cardboard sleeve variety, not the SACD/Blu Ray/Marbles type), as there are some good deals, with 10-12 albums for around a tenner, but it was annoying that it didn’t tell you what albums are included, so you have to do a bit of detective work to see what you’re buying. I shall be spending the weekend, and much of the next week, listening to Donald Byrd, Charlie Parker, Ornette Coleman, Thelonius Monk, Dexter Gordon, Bill Evans, Dizzy Gillespie, Herbie Hancock, Lester Young, Duke Ellington and, for change of tone, Aretha Franklin and Earth, Wind and Fire. Actually, that’s not a few is it, so it may take a little longer than a week. I think I got carried away with the bargains!
An alternative answer to the OP of course, is: dodging tax (amusing nickname an all but the actual fact behind it can get forgotten), discouraging Union membership. That sort of thing.
On an unscientific test I searched for Little Feat to discover the first 5 albums in a little slip box for £11 which is such a good offer I feel like buying even though I’ve already got them several times each. So anyone with a Feat size hole in their collection should get on the right foot. Oh and the track listings are there too.
I’ve sometimes wished that I didn’t have certain CDs when I visit Fopp, because they can be had so cheaply, Similarly, when I look at the 5 Blu Rays for £30 section at HMV I always think that someone could build a very impressive film collection quite cheaply, whilst trying not to think of how much ai’d probably paid for the films.
Record shopping is a nice bit of leisure for me now, even in my North West covid hotspot – so I shall be advancing masked upon some shops in the morning. There’s a copy of the new Fontaines DC album with my name on it at Piccadilly Records – I shall be popping to the legendary Vinyl Resting Place, Vinyl Exchange and wherever else I get to. I don’t know what I’ll find yet – that’s the fun part.
Beware. Closed on Mondays and Tuesdays ( and limited opening times on other days ). I found this out when I turned up on a Tuesday to collect my vinyl copy of the new Jason Isbell record.
Vinyl Exchange. Crikey, I’ve bought and sold more records in that shop than I care to remember, but this was in the early 90s before the shop moved to where it is now. I used to love my payday record shopping trips to Manchester. There were so many places to buy records, videosand books and so on. The Corn Exchange by Victoria station was the best. There were so many stalls/units In there I’d be in there for ages. First stop was usually Carl’s stall with the ‘half price’ CDs. They were always half-price, so I don’t know why he just didn’t price them up at the amount he was selling them for. It was always the cheapest stall in the place.
I’ve never forgiven Piccadilly Records for being sniffy with me in 1991. Not been back since.
I feel your pain. In many ways the shop feels the same but, I can assure you, the staff have changed. Customer satisfaction is more essential than ever for any high street concern. These days, the staff are nothing but helpful and kind.
I find all my musical needs satisfied at the Eel Market.
Yes. As a bonus at the eel market, you have to take the rough with the smooth, adding to the excitment.
I think that’s gonna be my main source for a while now. Who knew how expensive getting divorced was, and we’ve only just started. I deliberately went for the legal firm in Sheffield that are known to be quite aggressive and tough, but when I emailed the solicitor a few questions the other day, including an urgent one, I was told that she’ll happily answer them once I have paid an up front fee of £1,500. That completely wiped me out, so all those jazz boxed sets I bought to take my mind off things whilst she was down spending a few days with her fancy man (she had lied and said she was going elsewhere to visit a friend – probably the worst day of my life when I realised what she’s done, and I once got diagnosed with a tumour in my spinal cord!), are not looking such a good idea any more, especially as the CD player in my laptop conked out 4 discs into burning the 4th disc of the Dizzy Gillespie set into iTunes!
@Paul-Wad Be very very wary of the legal costs. No chit chat only ask what you have to, have clear concise questions, no idle chit chat to try to make things pleasant. The clock is on from the time they open the docs or from the time they pick up the phone. If you can stomach it you are better trying to find out what your wife wants and what you want and see how far apart you are before getting the lawyes into negotiations.
Thanks, will bear that in mind. They’ve given me a 35 page financial declaration to complete. It looks designed to go back and forth to get it completed properly, so could well eat any financial settlement in phone calls. The wife has come back from a weekend away with the ex-boyfriend today. I was so, so hurt [understatement: Ed.] when I realised that’s where she’d gone, and not to her friend’s as she said. But it seems it didn’t go well (although it has now given me the adultery box to tick) and once she realised how seriously I was taking things with the financial settlement and the kids (and all the cards are heavily stacked in my favour) she’s suddenly thinking we should slow things down and see how they pan out. It’s totally messing with my head, tearing me between the unforgivable betrayal of the past few days and the fact that after 21 years together I’d forgive anything to stay with her. She’s said we should take a week before taking anything further, but I’m taking a couple of sleeps to try to work out if I am being played. Seriously, it’s such a mindf*ck!
Hmmm, sounds like she’s re-icing the regurgitated cake, for a quieter eat’n’keep on the sly. But that assumes she is like my middle wife was, god rest her soul. Soon.
When trust breaks, it can never be mended. Infidelity changes everything, immediately, and things can never be the same again – in fact, they weren’t like that in the first place. Nor can things be how you want them to be. Nobody wins. It’s a mess. All you can do is wade through it and not look back. Not in anger, not in regret, not in hope. Look ahead to what you’re going to get done today.