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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..
well they can only release what's there to be released. as long as it's labelled properly (so you know what you're getting), it's ok and anyone's choice to buy or not.
Have to agree with moonchild, most of the stuff i have already on earlier released ep's. but still some surprises on it though.
But not really neccesary to release on expensive vinyl. I don't think i would be buying those. Rather have the opera shows on vinyl !
@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.
I am quite surprised with what you write there Moonchild.
First of all, i think this cd box contains a lot of unreleased nuggets. Also, i am looking forward to the Pidah disc. Interesting to listen to the first version of the album.
Second, don't forget how cheap this box is. Pre-order for 25 euros! That is an amazing price for a box like this. Compare it to this Velvet Underground box and see that the MP box is a way better deal.
I'm much more reluctant with my demands as a fan. But I feel Moonchild is a collectionist and completionist and would buy everything, even for a steep price, if it's packaged and presented well and worth the money. That's very ok to me.
But since this Blissard is a bargain deal, I wouldn't argue like that or be so upset about it. I own the old vinyl and CD (what for? my choice!) and if there's about ten unheard songs on this edition and some nice booklet with interesting liner notes as in the TM 4CD edition for 25euros, that'd be a ridiculous steal and I'm a satisfied customer.
So they could do some archive release series. Vol I covering 1990 to 1993 and so on, without including the previously and properly released songs then. Like a "Studio Scrapwork" series. Thing is, how much material would there really have been left over to justify these releases ? Would I want lots of muddy and unfinished 4-track jams with half baked lyrics? Their proudly released finished music made me a fan so why would I want that? It'd feel somewhat necrophilic. I rather see the point of repackaged timepieces like these 4CD editions. Imagine being the artist looking back on your precious records, you now present the different development states the material went through up to (and therefore including) the end product. Makes perfect sense to me.
I find it difficult to put demands on the band, because the industry works like this and they're supposed to be a kind of band like that. Who's anyone to tell anyone what to do? I remember the debate when Child of the Future was released on vinyl only and how fans felt cheated or overlooked by the band. Very weird to me. MP don't need to fight an idealistic war against some industry enemy entity for the indie fan's sake. They're not U2 and still have their lives and their families to care about and need to make money and maybe don't want to tour all that much anymore (ok, they never really did, though) or work on and release a record every year. "Cashing in" is quite the inappropiate term. And I don't know how much work Dylan or NY put personally in their archive releases themselves in what amount of time. I guess they have heaps of people working it out for them.
actually i find it basically very odd to critizise the motorpsycho/stickman/rune business model. 8O it's rather the best i can imagine. it's honest and transparent and products and money pretty much run through short and obvious channels.
Very odd.. I mean, 25 euro. That's about 10 beers in a bar.
And also by releasing the original album, with as an extra a lot of high quality EP songs, for only €25,- this could be a way to attract new listeners. Something that wouldnt happen with a left-overs only release.
I agree that this isn´t a cashcrab sellout ripoff. It´s cheap, it´s blissard, it has 3 CDs of old songs(old yes, but released all over the place and in various degrees of obscurity), new songs and it comes in a nice little box with linernotes.
For fåkkings 240 spenn. That´s like, 4 beers in a bar!
Say, what if this was some leftover record with "the best of CD 2,3 & 4", how would that make it any less "rip off" and better for the fans, than including blissard w/3bonus discs for approx 5-10 euros extra.
I love how they show the era and put blissard in a context of how, when and why it endeded up being the final blissard (or timothys m. for that matter)
Sort of like same as a old moive gets re-released with lots of new making of and what not bonus material. It would be odd not to included the main film.
Deluxe Editions is, of course for getting some extra cash from the fans who already has the album, but for this price, it seems like we´re in for a bargain.
[quoteI love how they show the era and put blissard in a context of how, when and why it endeded up being the final blissard[/quote]
that's what i love about this also.
Quote:though I wish someone at Rune Grammofon, Stickman or MP reads this because its such a drag and crappy way of doing stuffif someone of these people reads this i will say thank you.
Quote:a big opera and church doom vinyl and dvd extravaganza, bring it on, it should already be at the recordplant.If this Blissard sells good and they earn some money on this maybe they can release some of the stuff you want. For sure i guess i live album from the Opera will not sell too much records outside the "fan-circle". In every company/band it's good to have a "cash-cow" that can finance new "innovative" stuff. Remember that these people have a lot of expenses as a band and they have to earn some money to be around as a band.
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