just got home from best buy where i went to get the exclusive rickie lee jones CD with the 3 bonus tracks.

guess what....none in stock, only the deluxe version with the DVD is in stock.

guess what else....the other best buy in my area doesn't have it either, only the deluxe version!

they gave me the deluxe version for $9.99 but i don't want it, i want the bonus tracks and the deluxe version doesn't have them.

i really hate best buy sometimes.

renny

I think my story is even a little worse. Stopped in at one of my two local Best Buy stores this a.m. They had neither version of the new RLJ CD. One of the "helpful" staffers looked it up on their inventory screen and told me that it would not be available in their store and that there were none in the warehouse. When I mentioned that it was in their ad this week, I was told they sometimes don't stock new releases in their stores and "you need to order it online." Very helpful.

jim,

i am beginning question as to whether there really is a version with 3 bonus tracks.

renny

I've had similar BB experiences more then once.

At least they don't call it "Best Service" or anything like that.

It has become apparent to me that they can no longer distribute new releases in time to get them out on Release Day Tuesday (the weekly holiday!). At least not without a special effort. They took down the CD sale table in the central aisle for a reason I guess.

Maybe they have cut out direct shipments from the label, and are now trying to save money and do it themselves. All successful music retailers that I have seen receive new releases shipped direct from the manufacturer to be sure that those new titles arrive in advance of release date, providing time to check them in and ready them for the sales floor. The label/manufacturer fills the chain's central buying group's purchase order, specifically assigning a number of discs to each store location.

Best Buy must have stopped that practice with the possible exception of new releases by the biggest sellers in the business. It's a mistake to do that if their internal distribution can't even get the weekly ad stocked on time!

Borders is the only retailer I can count on here in Houston. I wish their coupons didn't expire on Mondays!

Renny, I don't know if Best Buy actually has the 3 bonus tracks or not, but they do exist. They're not as exclusive as Best Buy claims.

Here's a cut-and-paste from the recordstore.co.uk site:

rickie lee jones
sermon on exposition boulevard: exclusive version

This exclusive version of the album comes with a free Live In Japan three-track CD.

The new album by Rickie Lee Jones and her first for New West Records, is a beauty: soul-satisfying and sonically unique. She sounds like she's going through a transformation throughout the album in a way that's reminiscent of Van Morrison's performances on his classic album Astral Weeks. There’s Rickie’s spellbinding performance on the eight-plus free-flowing minutes of 'I Was There', and so many other highlights here, including 'Where I Like It Best', 'Gethsemane', 'Falling Up', 'Circle In The Sand', '7th Day' and 'Elvis Cadillac', 'Circle In the Sand' (originally written for the recent indie film Friends With Money) and especially 'Nobody Knows My Name'.

Essentially what Rickie Lee Jones and her collaborators have done on the set is to put Christ's words into a modern-day context, portraying those words in a way that anyone can understand. Hence, 'Elvis Cadillac' not only talks about cruising around Heaven in the King's most famous vehicle, but also mentions the late, great Janis Joplin.

Ms. Jones hired producer Rob Schnapf (Elliott Smith, The Vines, Beck) and Rob took Rickie Lee and her crew to Hollywood’s legendary Sunset Sound. Peter and Lee kept the 'sermon' focused by using the same musicians throughout the recording. One evening, Rob brought in Joey Waronker (son of Lenny, co producer of Rickie’s first two records) to play on a number of these new songs. Rickie began to play bass and guitar, and again, the project began to change. The album does sound like the beginning of an auspicious career in music, never mind the artist creating it has been making music for twenty-seven years...

Live CD

1. Nobody Knows My Name (4:09)
2. It Hurts (3:33)
3. Circle In The Sand (5:19)

The Sermon On Exposition Boulevard

1. Nobody Knows My Name
2. Gethsemane
3. Falling Up
4. Lamp Of The Body
5. It Hurts
6. Where I Like It Best
7. Tried To Be A Man
8. Circle In The Sand
9. Donkey Ride
10. 7th Day
11. Elvis Cadillac
12. Road To Emmaus
13. I Was There

i found this on the best buy website after much searching:

Save on Rickie Lee Jones' The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard, and get three Best Buy exclusive live tracks: "Nobody Knows My Name," "It Hurts" and "Circle in the Sand." Plus, get free shipping.


Jones' new release puts Christ's words in a modern-day context and adds a sound that rocks harder than anything else the two-time Grammy-award winner has ever recorded. "Nobody Knows My Name," the striking opening track, is minimalist pure pop punk rock, and the evocative, riff-'n'-hook-filled, stream-of-consciousness rant titled "Falling Up" follows in a decidedly similar art-rock manner.

Based on what I've seen, overheard & been told by Best Buy employees it appears to be an issue with BB, not with the labels. I believe the problem is that they receive the product on time (although at times in VERY SMALL quantities) but that either due to staffing shortages or lazy employees they often don't get new releases out on the floor for a couple days. More then once I've had to Strongly request that an employee check stock in the back room to get a BB exclusive on Tuesday. I've also had to drive to a second BB store more then once to get an "exclusive" cd after our local store sold out of the 2 or 3 copies they received.

Something like this I think I would just find it online and preorder it there to avoid all the driving around to try and find it in case it MIGHT be in a Best Buy in Niles or Boardman Renny.

My saga with the KISS bonus disc is a typical example of how clueless they are. I had given up after about a month because it was one big back and forth and a resolution seemed like it would never come.

[quote="Renny"]i found this on the best buy website after much searching:

[i]Save on Rickie Lee Jones' The Sermon on Exposition Boulevard, and get three Best Buy exclusive live tracks: "Nobody Knows My Name," "It Hurts" and "Circle in the Sand." Plus, get free shipping.


Well, I am glad you found it on the website. My experience was I ordered the CD online, on 2/5, the day before the release date. It clearly said with Best Buy exclusive, with bonus tracks. So it arrives today and no hint of bonus tracks on the wrapping. I put it in the player and 13 tracks. I have to say I did not see anything on the website that listed the details of what tracks were the exclusives. Just like the website and flyer didn't list the bonus tracks on the new Mellencamp CD. (At least that actually had the bonus tracks) They only way I knew what they were in advance was because I saw them here. So I call Best Buy and I spoke to a guy, that talked like a valley girl. I had to ask him to repeat himself about 10 times. He says he didn't see anything on the web site about exclusive tracks and someone would get back to me in 5 - 10 days. He also said sometimes the promotions don't last very long. I guess! Over before it started, considering when I placed the order. To add insult to injury I also ordered the 2 disc version with the DVD. I ordered that from Amazon at the same time, I ordered the BB exclusive. I thought it was a good buy (14.99) for an SACD and DVD. It arrived fine, but of course I would not have ordered the 'exclusive' if I would have known it was not exclusive!

So I wonder when they get back with me and they actually have the exclusive version, am I going to have to ship the CD I got back to them? I am pissed!

The above is why I often don't order the exclusives on line. An iq test does not seem to be a requirement to work for BB.

i've told this story before, but for those who haven't heard it.

one of my all-time favorite students got hired at best buy right after she graduated high school.

she was made a "media expert" after one week on the job.

she didn't know who john, paul, george and ringo were, let alone anything else about music.

go there strictly for the specials, don't expect answers to any questions about music and you'll be OK.

renny

Several years ago I was in a Camelot Music (now FYE) store and I heard a young girl who was stocking the bins ask her manager, "Monty Python? Isn't he Blues?"

Another time a friend of mine was shopping for a CD player at a now defunct store and asked the salesman how to program tracks above number 21 on a particular player. The samesman said, "Oh, there are no CDs with more than 20 tracks!"

Renny,

Where did you find the quote above on the BB website? I bet you did search hard! I didn't find all this info, but I did find the weekly ad and it did state 3 exclusives. I received a Customer Care email today about my order and I gave them hell from all of us about it. Just like the guy I spoke to on the phone, the representative emailing me could not find anything on this promotion. I told them about all of the disappointed Best Buy customers experience in the stores and online. I told them I regretted ordering from Best Buy because I just ordered to get their elusive exclusive! I also told them if this CD exists I want them to send me a copy. I wanted to say and I ain't going through the aggravation of returning the one I got. Send it to me as a courtesy to show me how much you 'care'! But I will just wait until I see what they say.

I mentioned this on the old ICE site last summer. Cheap Trick was doing an in store appearance for "Rockford". While I was waiting in line, two music "Specialists" were talking and one of them had no idea who Cheap trick were. The other one said, "You know, they're the guys who sing "The Logical Song"!...

Jeff

it's here:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp ... 2400050005

and i can't even remember how i got there. and you are correct it took quite a long time.

it's here:

http://www.bestbuy.com/site/olspage.jsp ... 2400050005


I noticed on this page that while the RLJ CD is shown as in stock and the release date is 2/6, in the the product description it says Sermon On Exposition Blvd [2/20] - CD. Once you click on the add to cart it does not say exclusive bonus tracks or [2/20]. Maybe the bonus track version isn't going to be available until Feb. 20. If that is the case this should have been listed separately from the other versions released on 2/6.. the standard version and the 2 disc version. Then the customer and more importantly the employees would not be confused.

As of 2 days ago, my local BB store has the RLJ CD with the bonus 3-track CD. This was 2 days after the knowledgeable staff there told me that the store was getting none, the warehouse had none and I would have to order it online because the store would not be stocking it.

Let's face it-- many of the younger BB employees are chronically non-caring about their job performance. Many of them are college-educated and simply biding their time until something else comes along. They're only there because of the chronic underemployment in this "booming" economy that Mr. Bush keeps bragging about.

Meanwhile they keep dumping thier "older" more valued and knowledgable employees. One of my friends was a store manager for 1over 10 years, when all of a sudden they started playing games with him a couple of years ago. They increased his hours to almost 60 per week, leaving him one day off. On that day they would send him to meetings all over the Chicagoland area. The stress took it's toll, and he had to quit due to exhaustion.

Jeff