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Hey, I agree w alot you're saying, and when I see the picture Kjellepelle added my saliva started running..!
AND – I must not have caught that it goes for 25€s, a good deal for sure.
And Supernaut – Of course you can have some sort of demands as a fan, if only as in how you think things should be done, though maybe "demand" is the wrong word, maybe a wish is a better term and a forum like this should and is open to vent these opinions. But I totally agree, its always up to the band, and MP have done so much right up to now so who am I to criticise. But, as for the big box, I didnt mean a necrophiliac studio jam take 6 scrap collection, I pictured it as a definitive 'nuff said box of different eras. Lets say all the stuff from TM, Blissard, AADAP and TU compiled into one box w some demos etc. But this is just me. And I probably shouldn't be complaining. But maybe because I so much enjoyed the N Young box and how it allowed eccentricities and live takes to flesh out the complete picture, in and in-between records, a definite chapter journey, I thought "Nice!" But hey, I'll prob get the Blissard box anyway, and I'll like it, and it will def be so much better than 10, or 4, or THREE! beers (OH, Norway – weird economy :wink: !) (And btw – to be clear, I'm not so much into buying everything they produce at any price, Ive never indulged in buying stuff second hand for high prices and I guess thats exactly why I was writing this: I want the nuggets, but I dont really want them spread over ten, or four repackaged records. And yes, the CotF haters, wtf? And – I want the economy to go to the band and not to some weird mint condition collector/bootlegger/hoarder or label).
Anyway, Blissard or the whole MP output from 1993-99 is such a big part of my youth and I've been fading in and out after that until the recent years so I guess its of purely egoistic reasons that I want a big fat juicy box of nice oddities to fill out the soundtrack of my youth. (A sidenote – I remember buying the Hey Jane EP, my all time B-sides favourite, any band, and I seem to remember the liner notes saying that these songs were only a small collection of a bigger whole, so my wishes for When The World Sleeps have prob been a bit over the top, and even though a slo-mo Flick of the Wrist is pretty nice I had a naive dream of diamonds, but of course, a diamond would have been released ages ago, even how rough it is
) And, of course, as they have now chosen to release this as a two+++ box set series, what can you say other than Thank You. Though – STILL – I must say, I think a big box would have worked better in a narrative way; awkward 4-track demos and corny live takes could be included and glued into the whole picture in a way I feel that they're now excluded. This is a general Delux Edition issue imo. But Im pretty sure MP have thought this through and figured that this is the best way for them. Though I pictured a lo-fi RW cum definitive rarities collection, BUT OH!, I'm dreaming again. Maybe these tracks dont exist and thats also perfectly fine.
And again – wishes and dreams
@GBD – I might VERY well be full of shit :wink:
Though, this stuff – music – and MP – is Important and worth some discussion :smoke:
@Supernaut I know what you mean, though I think this repackaging business is a very bad & cynical deal for the fans (this is a prevalent record company INDUSTRY disease and not something I thought MP would get into). Esp when they prob wont sell it on itunes, stream it on Spotify or whatever, so you can buy the few songs thats worth having.
Of course its their right to do it this way, its all properly labeled and a good money deal for them, but I wish they had chosen a more interesting and less cash oriented way to release "the vaults" – because, seriously, this is fan stuff anyway – and the people buying TM ii or Blissard ii prob already have the originals on two formats.
A nicely packaged big box of vinyls of lets say the 90s or the 00s including all the leftovers, demos, early versions of songs from the studio and concerts (I know the live punk rock version I heard of Like Always from the earlier 90s beats the pidah version) and maybe a ten volume book(!) would be a lot more interesting than rebuying all their records all over getting a few nuggets crammed in. But it's a bad and expensive deal for the record company, even though I though MP were beyond this. They are the most important rock band Norway has produced and should be treated as such, not letting their back catalogue being resold like a bag of cornflakes with a new toy inside. Thats what it feels like.
Look at Dylan or N. Young (though they aren't revisionists to the extent I think MP are – mostly a RW issue – they didnt redub or pitch the vocals of old recordings, they knew they sang "bad" and sometimes played a bit rough or someone hit a bad note once in a while, but they must have reasoned that this was a perfect part of the total vibe and experience and something the fans appreciate). But they can maybe afford to be "giving" – at least moneywise – both in the basement tapes series or the archive boxes. If they would have done what MP are doing, reselling all their old records with a few outtakes included it would have been a sellout and feel slightly dirty and record business-y. And these are Columbia Records and Warner Bros artists, the BIG players. I know Sonic Youth and Nirvana and other 90s bands (or their record labels) has done the same as MP, but its always so… stale and smutty. I expect more. As MP are a fringe "indie" band of sorts, on a fringe label, there is even more of a reason to be reasonable, anti-industry, not having one eye on the product and the other eye desperately stuck on the cash profit, forgetting the fans along the way. I can see how Bent or MP or their label want a "definitve" and "all encompassing" version of every album, but they should realize that they've apparently already done that. Now I guess people want all the nuggets, compiled on 180gr vinyls, the stuff we haven't heard, not a 50% mix of old and new. And as we're talking about Blissard what did Bent sing: "Designed to shift a million units or two… blah blah blah… the persuasiveness of cash". Still spot on record label criticism and maybe moreso now than in the 90s. So why would you want to go there, talking metaphorically, and why would you want to go there if you're on Rune Grammofon of all labels? Why would you want to cash in on, well, psychonauts or deadheads? Because they'll buy anything?
Im saying this because I'm a fan and I want to have those few interesting new songs and a lot more, I'm a completionist, but I dont want to rebuy Blissard etc all over again. I'm not that into nostalgia and I didn't think MP were either. So I guess I wont buy it, sad, but it totally feels like a scam. I'll download the songs I want and buy and devour the book instead.
But I guess you have to hate your favourite bands a bit, and feel a bit cheated, thats how the business runs, and thats apparently how they now run, unfortuantely. And of course – a big opera and church doom vinyl and dvd extravaganza, bring it on, it should already be at the recordplant.
Im not trying to be a sourpuss, though I wish someone at Rune Grammofon, Stickman or MP reads this because its such a drag and crappy way of doing stuff, and it includes so many more bands than MP. Someone should do it the right way and MP should have done it already, guiding the way.
Just listened to the SHORT excerpts on Amazon, and is it just me or have I not heard most of these songs before? 90% of When the world sleeps has been on b-sides, and the "unfinished" Pidah version of the album is maybe not very interesting, and on the fourth cd there are quiet a few LTEC era b-sides. Understand me right, I am absolutely for opening the vaults, but they are also making me open the vaults of my bank account to rebuy old albums with a few new nuggets. Is the "new" Blissard (cd1) reproduced and enhanced in someway, am I missing something?
If they are going to produce deluxe versions of every record they've done since 1994 I would much rather prefer a Neil Young type archive box, with leftovers, demos and lost tracks. I think a demo record of Bent doing the songs as they were conceived could be magical. But instead I have to buy all the records all over again, only to get the max 5 tracks that are worth having.
I dont want to sound negative here, but I think it has to be said. Open the vaults for real, dont repackage old stuff without even enhancing them in some way or other! I already have most of the records in two formats, and I guess next time around the enhanced versions will come, also in two formats and perhaps in some enhanced digital format, and my MP shelf here at home will need an extension. Uh..
Not perfect quality, photobucket seems to make the image smaller, but perhaps you can read it, its worth it:)
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