HOT NEWS: Better Than A Box Set II

wstüssyb wrote:

They will release stuff we have now in various trading circles(hub/mp3/bootlegs) and not what we really really want.

I really don't want to, but have to agree... That's what I expect, anyway... Box Set as a dream was 3 different books, size Freddie one each. Forget it... 40 minutes each... Well- here goes De Lane Lea and BBC and... where's the space for anything else...? And I was really hoping they'd put at least one CD with stuff like 1984- "Step On Me" or Opposition's acetate... Forget it...

Well - I'll believe it when I see it anyway. Queen productions are involved remember - they will either not happen (I highly doubt anything is confirmed)or it will be undesirable material such as edits and new instrumental mixes. I can't ever picture a 2CD version of "Queen" with the likes of Silver Salmon, Polar Bear, Hangman or any of the demos.

Do you guys actually read through the threads... or do you just add your own twopence worth after reading the headline?

John S Stuart: "I am NOT purchasing the old stuff again. Rather, I am buying a new rarities disc - ALONG with a second remastered version of the original for virtually free... it is BETTER to buy in affordable installments - rather than a one-off lump sum..."

Rip Van Winkle: "A two DVD set (Milton Heynes for example) only costs about 1/3 more to buy than just one CD (typically $20 versus $15 in the US). Paying $20 (I hope) per album anthology does not seem too bad. It costs much less than an import.(especially a Japanese import)."

If you had read these previous posts - you will have seen that your fears have all been addressed.

Not really - thats your opinion. I doubt theyll be putting a CDs worth of demos on the 2nd disc of every album.

Negative Creep: "I doubt theyll be putting a CDs worth of demos on the 2nd disc of every album."

We'll see.

John, any idea of a timeframe? I'm a little surpised they haven't announced them already, to cash in on the tour.
Although I have noticed that suddenly all Queen cds in the shops have dropped to half-price in the last week....

kleinhond wrote:

EMI started their David Bowie 2-CD 30th Anniversary series with Ziggy Stardust in 2002.

Since then there has been Aladdin Sane, Ziggy Stardust Live, Diamond Dogs and David Live.

You want to know the total number of unreleased tracks that have been issued across these five titles?

Four.

Which are three live tracks and one remix!

Makes you think eh?

Might make me think more if you were a little more accurate. For a start, if youre going to include David Live, then you have to include Stage. So then, the extras are 2 live tracks each on David Live and Stage, theres the new mix of Moonage Daydream on Ziggy [plus various demo's which may or may not have been available elsewhere] and then theres the two previously unreleased tracks on Aladdin Sane, so theres at least 6 tracks that were actually unreleased, not to mention a number of tracks that were uncommon outside collector circles. Just because there wasnt a LOT of unreleased stuff on the David Bowie remaster series [to be continued with the Young Americans 30th Anniversary edition later this year] _doesnt_ mean that a Queen series would be the same.

Oh and as for those of you announcing the imminent death of DVD-Audio, its interesting that REM have just released all of their Warner catalogue in CD/DVD-A packs, so there are now new DVD-Audios of all of their albums. Not that its exactly blooming with health as a format, but its by no means dead yet. As for SACD, its hardly doing a lot better. Now both formats are backwards compatible, DVD-Audio with DVD, and SACD with CD, maybe there will be some good news. I think that both formats are destined to be niche formats for high-resolution audiphiles though.
Still - Id love to see the Queen catalogue re-released in the way I suggested before. Thanks to John Stuart for bringing up the probability that this will happen. Of course it may not... but some here seem to positively enjoy being negative about everything to do with the band.
Id rather look forward to the possibilities ahead.
Cheers

Steve

In my defense, about DVDA I was looking at the perspective of the average consumer...who would walk in a see a CD, thats the whole point of releasing the albums with a second disc a boxset would only address those hardcore fans, as does DVDA, releasing the stuff this way they can appeal more to the general public. I said it I love DVDA and I think its a great format, but look in the store, all the electronice stores I've been to hide the DVDA section in the back of the CD aisles next to the discount CDs and SACDs...its obvious the format is only take seriously by niche audiophile market and you can only find them if you are looking for them.

And how many people actually have 5.1 systems? how many people know what dts is? There are a lot of people who don't understand the formats and their capabilities, they buy whatever the sales guy tells them to and then have someone come to their house to install it.

I'm sorry but the average consumer is stupid and doesn't like being confused, I think this tactic of releasing stuff is the best way to avoid consumer confusion and still appeal to the hardcore fanbase.

Oberon62AU wrote:

kleinhond wrote:

EMI started their David Bowie 2-CD 30th Anniversary series with Ziggy Stardust in 2002.

Since then there has been Aladdin Sane, Ziggy Stardust Live, Diamond Dogs and David Live.

You want to know the total number of unreleased tracks that have been issued across these five titles?

Four.

Which are three live tracks and one remix!

Makes you think eh?

Might make me think more if you were a little more accurate. For a start, if youre going to include David Live, then you have to include Stage. So then, the extras are 2 live tracks each on David Live and Stage, theres the new mix of Moonage Daydream on Ziggy [plus various demo's which may or may not have been available elsewhere] and then theres the two previously unreleased tracks on Aladdin Sane, so theres at least 6 tracks that were actually unreleased, not to mention a number of tracks that were uncommon outside collector circles.

Oh dear.

It might help matters if you could actually know what the definition of accurate was.

I didn't include Stage as I was specifically referring to the 30th Anniversary Series. Stage was originally released in 1978. You do the maths.

And even so the new Stage only has two unreleased live tracks, and is still incomplete with missing tracks and not the full concert as recorded.

So, back to the 30th Series.......

David Live only has one previously unreleased track, Space Oddity.

Panic In Detroit was a B-side and issued on the Rare album.

Here Today Gone Tomorrow and Time were included on the 1990 2-CD edition.

Diamond Dogs 30th Anniversary had no previously unreleased tracks at all.

Aladdin Sane had two previously unreleased live tracks, one of which was taken direct from a very bad quality bootleg.

Ziggy Stardust in 2002 had one previously unreleased track, which was just a 'new' remix of Moonage Daydream, done in 1998 for a TV ad for a car and heard widely at the time.

All other tracks on CD2 had been widely issued on previous editions of Bowie's albums, some of them many times before.

So, um, as I wrote yesterday, the series has so far produced four unreleased Bowie tracks - three live versions of famous tracks and one contemporary remix.

Can I be any clearer?

I too, am with VGB on this one. DVD-A is a fine format and though it isn't selling brilliantly, that doesn't change the fact that it could be big. SACD is a strange one. I don't know anyone with an SACD capable player. However, everyone I know does have a dvd player. Doesn't that mean the most basic of compatibility for DVD-A?

I think it's a sleeper. Once the record companies try exclusive DVD-A releases that aren't available to cd buyers, it could drum up interest. And maybe people will realise the quality playback benefits.

I said it many times before, SACD sounds practically the same as DVD-A, so I wouldn't rule it out completely. But the widespread compatibility with consumers isn't good. Shame for both formats, but mostly for DVD-A. Like I said, it could sooooo do really, really well. The record companies just need to put some faith in a new format. Don't we deserve it??!

Peace,
Adam.

kleinhond wrote:

Oh dear.

It might help matters if you could actually know what the definition of accurate was.

I didn't include Stage as I was specifically referring to the 30th Anniversary Series. Stage was originally released in 1978. You do the maths.
<snip>
Can I be any clearer?

You may not have included STAGE because it was not part of the 30th Anniversary series, in which case in pursuit of your definition of accuracy you shouldnt have included DAVID LIVE either! So while you couldnt be much clearer - you still have work to do on your definition of accuracy.
The 30th Anniversary series is only the studio albums - and didnt even include PINUPS, so not all of them even. DAVID LIVE and STAGE were released together, and had nothing to do with the 30th Anniversary series. All the others in the series so far were clearly identified on their packaging as such.

As for your explanation about Bowie back catalogue - well Im happy to admit you may well have the better of me there. Ive never pretended to be a catalogue trainspotter [for any artist]. I knew that there were two songs included on DAVID LIVE that were not there before, but was unaware that it had been released on RARE since I dont have it.

Its a pity that it often seems to be the case that there are many genuine rarities out there that never seem to be make it out of collector or bootlegger hands and be released officially. Seems so silly, since at least that way they would make some money out of it.
However - my point still stands that just because this happened with David Bowie, that does not necessarily mean it will happen with Queen.
Cheers

Steve

Adam Baboolal wrote:

I too, am with VGB on this one. DVD-A is a fine format and though it isn't selling brilliantly, that doesn't change the fact that it could be big. SACD is a strange one. I don't know anyone with an SACD capable player. However, everyone I know does have a dvd player. Doesn't that mean the most basic of compatibility for DVD-A?

I think it's a sleeper. Once the record companies try exclusive DVD-A releases that aren't available to cd buyers, it could drum up interest. And maybe people will realise the quality playback benefits.

I said it many times before, SACD sounds practically the same as DVD-A, so I wouldn't rule it out completely. But the widespread compatibility with consumers isn't good. Shame for both formats, but mostly for DVD-A. Like I said, it could sooooo do really, really well. The record companies just need to put some faith in a new format. Don't we deserve it??!

Peace,
Adam.

Hmmm... there seems to be a little confusion still about the formats out there. There are DVD-A titles out there, but none of them are compatible with CD players. Currently there are 3 formats out there - these are Super Audio CD, DVD-Audio and DualDisc [I wont even get into the new upcoming formats].
Super-Audio CD or SACD: originally issued mostly in Hi-Resolution Stereo only, and marketed as an audiophile upgrade for CD. Comes either as exclusive SACD, only for SACD players, or as a Hybrid SACD, which means it will also play on an ordinary CDplayer. It may also include multi-channel mixes.
Sony made it very expensive to upgrade as their SACD machines were very high-end with high-end prices to match. Now there are a large number of Universal players [playing SACD, CD, DVD and DVD-A etc] at reasonable prices. SACD now often has multi-channel mixes, due to the increasing popularity of 5.1 [or higher] surround systems for home theatre. Personally I think Sony botched the marketing and promotion of what is basically an excellent format.

DVD-Audio: generally comes with 4 different mixes and is only playable on DVD players, and the high resolution DVD-Audio mix is only playable on those DVD players with DVD-A capability - either DVD-A players or the newer Universal players.
The four mixes available are usually - DVD stereo [playable on any DVD player and usually a higher standard than CD], DVD 5.1 Surround [often DTS but not always. The Queen ones are DTS] and then there are the highest resolution DVD-Audio layers, DVD-A stereo and DVD-A 5.1 which are only playable on DVD-Audio compatible players. So, even without a DVD-A compatible player you would usually still get a better sound than CD due to higher resolution, either in stereo or 5.1. This format hasnt been rolled out well or marketed properly either.
VGB is quite right when he says that audiophile titles are not generally presented well in stores, and often the salespeople - or shop assistants in most cases - have no clue what either format is or anything much about them. That makes it so much harder from the point of view of your average consumer.
Im starting to notice higher visibility here in Perth, but theres still not a great range of titles, which is the biggest problem of them all.
Finally there is the new DUALDISC. This is a double-sided disc, with a [non-redbook standard] CD layer containing up to 60mins of music, and on the other side, a DVD layer, which may or may not contain high-resolution DVD formats such as DVD-Audio, but will have a standard DVD layer that will play on all DVD players. There are issues here where the discs will sometimes not play in some CD or DVD players and apparently they carry a warning to that effect.

Sorry for the long post - but Im very interested in both of the first two formats, and have numerous SACDs and DVD-As. The 5.1 mixes are generally excellent and a total different experience to hearing the standard stereo mixes. Ive loved the two Queen ones so far and c

Rabid Wolverine:" ...I just thought I'd put in my own two cents my own way rather you like or not and if you don't well fuck you then."

I can see that you certainly are Rabid.

Oberon62AU wrote:

CD+DVD-A releases like the new REM ones, with all the rarities on the CD, and new surround mixes of all the albums on the DVD. That way everyone would benefit, and you would be getting something new on every disc because you would be getting surround mixes of the albums on the DVD. Only A NIGHT AT THE OPERA & THE GAME have been previously released on DVD-A so its not a big stretch to hope that it might happen this way :)
Cheers!
Steve

This is the second time I've heard about these REM releases on the forum, but I haven't seen them. Where are they?

And the idea that the Queen albums could ALL be surround mixed? I'm sure the reason they take so long is because Brian wants them done to their satisfaction. And they ain't around for that, much. I haven't heard anything about the REM surround remixes, but over what period of time were they completed and how much input came from the band? Are they on the same level of the Queen ones?

Peace,
Adam.

Adam Baboolal wrote: This is the second time I've heard about these REM releases on the forum, but I haven't seen them. Where are they?

And the idea that the Queen albums could ALL be surround mixed? I'm sure the reason they take so long is because Brian wants them done to their satisfaction. And they ain't around for that, much. I haven't heard anything about the REM surround remixes, but over what period of time were they completed and how much input came from the band? Are they on the same level of the Queen ones?

Peace,
Adam.

The REM releases should be available in stores around the world now. They are certainly available here in Australia, as my brother now has 4 of them, and I expect to pick up several of them. Two or three of them have had surround mixes done before, but all are being released as one batch. Having heard NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI I think they are very well done. I love the sound. Heres the Rhino press release about it all. Sorry its a bit long.
Cheers

Steve

New Adventures In Cd + Dvd
Double Disc Reissues Of Entire Warner Bros. R.E.M. Catalog Due February 15


December 17 2004
LOS ANGELES --

R.E.M. fans will have a good reason to "Get Up" on February 15, the release day for reissues of the band's entire Warner Bros. catalog in deluxe two-disc editions offering loads of previously unavailable material. All nine CD/DVD combos (GREEN, OUT OF TIME, AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE, MONSTER, NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI, UP, REVEAL, IN TIME: THE BEST OF R.E.M., and AROUND THE SUN) will be available February 15
.

Every R.E.M. reissue will consist of the album as it was originally released on one CD, plus a DVD with a 5.1 surround sound version of the album remixed by Grammy-winning engineer Elliot Schiener, web links, an expanded booklet that features new liner notes and rarely seen archival photos, documentaries, and much more.

GREEN (1989) marked R.E.M.'s Warner Bros. debut and lifted the band to a new level of popularity, thanks to the hits "Pop Song '89," "Stand," and "Orange Crush." The bonus DVD includes an unreleased documentary video and two live performances from the Tour Film DVD.

OUT OF TIME (1991) continued to broaden R.E.M.'s audience with one of their biggest hit singles, "Losing My Religion," as well as "Shiny Happy People," and "Radio Song." The DVD includes the unreleased Time Piece documentary, which mixes band member interviews with commentaries about the songs.

With AUTOMATIC FOR THE PEOPLE (1992), the band achieved their greatest commercial success as well as one of their finest artistic statements. The CD contains the smash "Everybody Hurts," and the audience favorite "Man On The Moon." The DVD features a short film set in Athens, GA, made to support the release, which includes segments showing the band playing portions of songs in the studio.

MONSTER (1994) saw the band expanding its sound, creating an album featuring the aggressive rockers "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?" and "Star 69," as well as the delicate "Tongue" and "Strange Currencies." This DVD offers interviews with the band and unreleased live performances of "What's The Frequency, Kenneth?," "Let Me In," and "I Don't Sleep, I Dream."

NEW ADVENTURES IN HI-FI (1996) showed the band pushing themselves even further artistically, offering a wide range of song styles with tracks like "E-bow The Letter," "Leave," "Bittersweet Me," and "Electrolite," many of which were recorded live at soundchecks on the Monster tour. The DVD features an unreleased video documentary.

UP (1998) found the band redefining itself after the departure of drummer Bill Berry. Songs like "Daysleeper" "At My Most Beautiful," and "Walk Unafraid" demonstrated that R.E.M.'s