If you're a fan of Al Stewart, like I am, there have been some exciting releases over the past couple of years, though they've been released quietly. A guy named Neville Judd has been working in conjunction with Al to get things like videos and CDs out and available. You can get to them via the following:

http://www.nevillejudd.com/index.php

Here's the problem...Neville is not the most organized fellow in the world. On one hand, you need him, because a lot of the stuff that's available can only be purchased through him or at Al Stewart shows. On the other hand, don't expect fast service or much of any customer service for that matter. Neville has a habit of getting you to order things in advance, often offering some form of bonus if you do, but often it takes forever for him to deliver.

For the record, I have approximately 98 GBP (pounds) of outstanding payments, over the past year plus, that I haven't received product for. After sending a detailed breakdown of dates, prices and such, all I got was a "I'll look into it" and then nothing.

So if you're an Al Stewart fan, Neville has you a bit over a barrel if you want the harder-to-get stuff. My advice is simply this...don't have too many outstanding payments out there at any time. It adds up quickly. If you don't get things that you pay for (he takes PayPal, so you pay up front.), stay on him and keep very good records. You'll need them!

Hey Walter, if Neville ever comes through with your orders, let us know what you think quality wise and if they're CDRs. I've been thinking of ordering some CDs from him, but am disinclined to pay much $ for cdrs. On the other hand, such items would be custom made for a cdr swap with another member here....

From what I've received in the past, quality has never been an issue. The problem is getting Neville to deliver and if you push him too hard, he gets rather put off and snotty. I hate monopolies like this.

Now let me get this straight...CD-Rs that are paid for are bad. CD-Rs that are freely given are good. Is that an accurate assessment of the situation?

I'm not going to speak for TSmithPage, but I say it depends on how much you're paying for the CD-R.

I think the perception - okay, my perception - is that "real" CDs are generally of a better quality, from a physical standpoint, than CD-Rs (although of course the sound quality is just as good, depending on the source material).

Well, I want the music, in the same way I want the music for the ICE homemade compilations we put together. However, if it's just a cdr, it just doesn't "feel" like an official release. Conversely, if it is an official release, I want that and not a cdr even though the music's the same. It's some kind of bizarre collectors logic, I guess.

I've ordered them...hopefully they'll arrive.

Still nothing and no response to my Emails

He's had your money for a year & no merchandise? You're much more patient then me. Personally I would have gone to the authorities with fraud charges.

Fish (former Marillion singer) had a similar problem with his online merchandise; turned out his office manager was ripping him blind & he had no idea until numerous people complained. My understanding is that Fish has since filled all the orders at a tremendous financial loss.

I got my money back from Paypal. That got a response from him!

I had ordered discs 10/16/06. Got this email yesterday...

Hi ,
I've burnt you a copy direct from the Master thsi
afternoon as it is taking too long to wait for the
studio to do this .
CD going out to you from CT tommorrow .
Apologies ,
Neville

will await the discs

Yeah...this is very, very typical. Neville is always willing to offer you a refund, at some point, but you're put in a tough position since this is the only place that you can get this material from.

I finally involved Al Stewart's management company in the process and while it made Neville Judd a little faster to respond, it didn't really change the irresponsible way that he operates. I told the management company that the way Neville operates is an embarrassment to Al himself.

In any event, I really do feel your pain. Neville Judd is unorganized at best, deceitful at worst and an all-around idiot. As time has gone by, he's just gotten worse.

almost all of stewart's catalog is available through collectors choice for $12.99. weirdly, "year of the cat" is not available.

renny

Renny: Collectors Choice made a deal to reissue the bulk of Al Stewart's catalog. Looks like Rhino has retained the rights to Year of the Cat, as well as Time Passages and Past, Present and Future.

Stewart's catalog has been in flux for years. The new reissues from CChoice are crowded with bonus tracks, but reports are that the packaging is spartan. The rollout includes several titles that were never issued on CD in the US.

To further confuse matters, several earlier CD incarnations have different bonus tracks than these new reissues, including an import issue of Year of the Cat with 2 bonus tracks (none of the Rhino titles have any bonus tracks).

OK, that should explain everything clearly as mud.

It took me years to collect Al's catalog on CD, on a variety of labels. I plan on keeping what I have, and picking up some of the new CChoice titles.

Discs arrived in central Illinois today. CDR with sharpie, written by hand, label.
Is it too much to ask that I might get a better copy if and when he gets them out?

A huge batch of them are coming out on June 26th:

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