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@CaptainAubrey: good point.
Yeah I wish I would be the one receiving the royalties for "encore break". Surely I would own my own little island in the Pacific by now…
Stating that "every single Roadwork release was a very big dissappointment" and that the releases are "castrated" is way too harsh, imo! Although I was among the first to critisize the 1CD format of RW4 I want to make clear that RW1 in particular is the quintessential MP live album, just perfect in any way. When it was released in 1999 it was hardly dissappointing. To this fan it was just anything I had ever dreamed of and it turned me into a die-hard psychonaut. It captures the essence of the 1998 tour in the best possible way. It was typical of them to follow with the "Motorsource massacre", quite an off-center choice, but certainly not a castrated release and in hindsight a wonderful contrast to the picture perfect live album they delivered with RW1. However, I agree that the release schedule has been a big dissppointment because I, too, took the comment on the cover as promise which was never fullfilled — not by releasing just four issues in 12 years!
Unauthorised audience recordings or even unauthorised FM/SBD recordings are not an appropriate substitute for official live recordings. Only VERY FEW audience recordings (and certainly no MP tape in circulation) can compete with officially mixed multitrack soundboard recordings. Just listen to RW1 or the mp3s on Øyvind Brandtsegg's site and you just have to notice that these are lightyears ahead of any audience tape. They reveal details you could never hear on an audience recording. I would go so far as to call the audience tapes "castrated" in terms of sonic quality (and I do own and have listened to way more than 300 unofficial live recordings by MP). Also unofficial recordings are only available to a small circle of fans, their character is highly exclusive and elitist. And that is why they really should feed us with more official live recordings! Just think what these releases could do for the band: Their reputation would grow immensely and many fans and journalist could marvel about the amazing live qualities of this band!
Bent once said that he does not like to see so many unofficial MP live recordings to be spread widely because they do not represent the band's sound properly and he does not want the general public to get a bad picture of the band. That bears only one solution: More OFFICIAL live releases.
And finally, If they are to release entire shows/tours they will have to say good-bye to the policy of releasing everything on vinyl. Fine with me.
For now I am happy with RW4 and I am sure it will be an appropriate representation of the band for the moment. It will not solve the general "problem" though. If anything it will most likely be further proof that it would be justified to open the vaults and reveal the magic.
@T
we obviously agree.
a lol @Rob
and a ? to Fillmore:
Why a police of no vinyl then? There's always room for vinyl. If too much of a hassle then a first print only run may be an option but I wouldn't see the reason why. Don't (you) people buy MP vinyl anymore?
I agree with the sonic quality thing and I too hoped for more than 4 RW's in 12 years, but if I was told in 98 that MP will still go strong in 2011 I'd been allright with that.
And thanks for Oyvind's site. Never knew nothing about him. Great read. And listen.
listening to Oyvind's mp3s I wonder why there wasn't a RW of this era!? The brussels chien is a monster and the others probably too. Yet to listen to them. Wow, the faster we go the rounder we get… why can't I ever get my fellow musicians there?
Let's say they actually decide to release selected past shows and current concerts / tours officially. Do you really think it would be possible to issue all of those on vinyl?
Really, I would be fine with FLAC/MP3 downloads.
Or they could choose one or two concerts from each tour and bring them as exclusive merch on the following tour, as a tour-only-release. These could be CDs housed in a simple cardboard sleeve.
Or they could make each show they play available on CD-R or USB-stick immidiately after the show. It's possible, other bands do that too (incl. small and independent bands).
It's about getting this stuff out there and fancy vinyl releases are only obstacles in this regard, I guess.
…and of course they could still continue to release highlights as RW on vinyl once a year or every two years.
I did and hopefully will again release stuff myself. Vinyl is not much of an effort. It only seems now so because of the "modern" digital convenience but one can't measure everything now against this, no? I'd find that quite stupid. Vinyl costs what it costs, regardless of any new or other medium.
Immediate USB sticks would be great, of course. Half of the audience would buy it I reckon. But the band is very reluctant there I presume, or simply want to keep holding TEH VINYL in high esteem and rightly so. I love having a physical medium, a gatefold sleeve with art and liner notes beats any digital convenience. Well actually for me it's more convenient to play a record, CD or vinyl. Much more than firing up the PC, navigate to the files, choose a playlist and the format with mouse and keyboard and all. I'd rather hang in my sofa drooling over a nice albumcover after pushing the lift-the-needle-to-the-first-song button on my record player.
Ah I got no MP3 player of any kind. Wouldn't know what for.
@fillmore: in terms of sound quality you are of course right, the official recordings sound way better. But sound quality is only one aspect. I can very well live with less quality if the show manages to draw me in in the way a real live experience does. That is something the Roadworks series does not manage to do, for me at least.
So I must disagree with Bent here as well: many of the unofficial live recordings capture MP shows from various era perfectly well, warts and all (vocals anyone?). That's why I listen to them to begin with. Sure, the sound is not always perfect. But neither is the sound in many venues.
All that said, certainly I would applaud more official live recordings, but I'm inclined to say I would prefer one or two of the best shows in a tour to be released rather than a collection of songs (reason: see above). I love owning physical media, especially if there's a nice booklet (yes I am a CD person…bite me) but downloadable flacs would be great for me as well. Even sounds like relatively low-cost option for the band.
Have to agree with Rune, can´t believe the sour grapes from some of you here. After 20 years in the business MP are on top of their game with stunning releases every year since Kenneth joined. No sign of fatigue or slowing down whatsoever. Compare that with a group like Metallica, 5 years between each mediocre album. What more can you possibly ask from a band these days?
I don't think anyone is complaining about MP or their releases? Just pondering over what Roadworks is and could be… all of which is highly subjective of course. If we would not appreciate MP we would not be here.
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