I can't speak for anyWAN else, but the BBC recordings are somewhat of a disappointment in the manner they're being released, piecemeal and not in sequential order. There are multiple volumes of BBC recordings that have been booted. A very nice box set of everything could be officially released, a la Dylan's 18-disc box. Believe me, there'd be no lack of buyers.
I did get the official BBC Volume 2 and the remastered Volume 1, but I'm just saying, as a Beatles collector they seem half-measured, compromised, compiled by committee like Naked and Anthology.
Get Back is not the greatest work in The Beatles' recording history, but it belongs in the official catalogue more than the impostor Let It Be does, so I want it. Likewise for the original 1960s version of Live At The Hollywood Bowl, which should have been (and nearly was) released by Capitol in its day.
The availability of these titles in unofficial form fills holes in my collection, but I would prefer the real thing. I don't understand the attitude that if something is out there for download, or on YouTube or Spotify, we no longer need it to be released officially. Of course we still do.
And hi-res surround would get me to purchase the entire Beatles catalogue yet again, without hesitation.
Bowie has gotten the same treatment on BBC; much of his BBC recordings are still boot only.
_________________ Putty Cats are God's gift to the universe.
Spot on with the BBC Linda. It could have been done so much better for the hard-cores- a nice big box set. At the very least, the first set should have included at least one version of every song that they didn't record for EMI. I know that the quality on some of the isn't good or great, but for historical reasons, those songs should be out there.
Yet, the bean counters at other record companies feel that enough profit can be made with endless series of archive releases.
With The Beatles, it's not the record company. It's THEM. Their 1989 settlement with EMI has to be one of the worst in history.I'm no expert on it, but as I understand it, EMI or now, Universal, owns all of The Beatle tapes , recordings, masters, etc. They have little or no say on what's released though. That's all up to Crapple.
Yet, the bean counters at other record companies feel that enough profit can be made with endless series of archive releases.
Again, other artists' catalogs don't sell like The Beatles' continues to. Why bother paying producers, engineers, artists, etc. to put together new packages, when they can endlessly recycle the old stuff and rake in metric tons of money?
Spot on with the BBC Linda. It could have been done so much better for the hard-cores- a nice big box set. At the very least, the first set should have included at least one version of every song that they didn't record for EMI. I know that the quality on some of the isn't good or great, but for historical reasons, those songs should be out there.
OK, but the first set was released twenty-one years ago, when the economics of the music industry were completely different. There were no multi-tiered reissue programs, no mega-priced super-deluxe boxed sets with hardcover books, marbles, and Blu-ray discs.
In fact, if I remember correctly, the original 1994 BBC set actually went out of print after a couple of years. It's unclear whether this was because the set was not intended to be considered part of the Beatles catalog, or if there simply was only a single production run which was allowed to sell out, as expectations for the set were unclear. (Certainly a major reason for the set's release was that the recordings were entering the public domain in parts of Europe.)
Could the Beatles release such a BBC mega-box (or, for that matter, a "Let It Be" mega-box) today? Hard to say--by design, these mega-boxes need to both meet a certain price point and be limited in production. It doesn't help that a significant number of the BBC performances are covers.
At the same time, having indulged in the world of Beatle bootlegs back in the 1990's, I do think that the BBC and "Anthology" sets did successfully cherry-pick the best of what was circulating at the time, and as I recall it, trudging through 9 CD's of BBC material quickly became tedious and repetitious.
As for remaining studio outtakes....looking at random entries n Lewisohn's book, on 10/13/65, there were four takes of "Drive My Car" recorded, only one of which was complete. Lead vocal, backing vocal, tambourine, lead guitar, rhythm guitar, drums, piano and cowbell were all overdubbed separately. While I suppose that one could put all of these separate elements onto a CD or two, or perhaps a download, and peddle it to those Beatle fans who will buy anything, would it serve any meaningful purpose?
That said, back in the pre-internet days, it seemed to be a foregone conclusion within the pages of ICE and Goldmine that the three "Anthology" sets would eventually be collected in a boxed set containing even more vault material. I'm not sure how legitimate that rumor may have been, but maybe I'm glad it never came to pass.
Again: I'm not opposed to the release of new, OOP, or alternative Beatle material. Other items on my wish list: the 1980 Capital/US "Rarities" compilation on CD, as well as an upgraded singles box. But I would point out that there are few catalogs in music history as thoroughly accessible as that of the Beatles; when they entered the CD age, one could own every officially released song in their catalog on fifteen CD's, with but a single song ("All You Need Is Love") appearing twice, leaving behind no vinyl-only b-sides, no import-only songs, and no "new" songs packaged within a pricey compilations. It's a shame that more artists haven't followed that model.
_________________ "I'm joking, of course."--Lt. Robert "Bob" Hookstratten
Actually, one of my bitches about the 1st gen Beatles cd releases was most of the early albums would have fit 2 albums to a cd, & in the early days of cd, many reissues were done that way.
_________________ Putty Cats are God's gift to the universe.
With The Beatles, it's not the record company. It's THEM. Their 1989 settlement with EMI has to be one of the worst in history.I'm no expert on it, but as I understand it, EMI or now, Universal, owns all of The Beatle tapes , recordings, masters, etc. They have little or no say on what's released though. That's all up to Crapple.
Yet, the bean counters at other record companies feel that enough profit can be made with endless series of archive releases.
Again, other artists' catalogs don't sell like The Beatles' continues to. Why bother paying producers, engineers, artists, etc. to put together new packages, when they can endlessly recycle the old stuff and rake in metric tons of money?
Yet, the bean counters at other record companies feel that enough profit can be made with endless series of archive releases.
Again, other artists' catalogs don't sell like The Beatles' continues to. Why bother paying producers, engineers, artists, etc. to put together new packages, when they can endlessly recycle the old stuff and rake in metric tons of money?
More money?
Yes, but it would be a small amount compared to what they make off of simply re-releasing the original recordings, plus they (the execs) would have to share it with a bunch of other people.
Being a hard-core Beatles fan/collector is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, there is a lot of great & interesting music to listen to, but 50 years on, the group is still so insanely popular, that the record company doesn't need to offer up anything new & unreleased by them to continue making money off of them.
A Ludwig drum kit played by Ringo Starr on more than 200 live Beatles performances has been sold at auction for $2.1 million, according to Julien's Auctions.
According to the Associated Press, Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay is now the lucky owner after submitting the winning bid at auction on Friday in Beverly Hills, California. "Finally, after 45 years, the Beatles are together again," Irsay texted the AP, likely referring to other Beatles instruments in his possession.
_________________ "If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went." -Will Rogers
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