The reissue is the tool used by record companies to present an artist's catalog for several purposes. They can include profitable use of masters that have already earned their costs and are now cost-effective, as well as "piggybacking" occasions when public awareness of artists' albums or lives have created an interest or market for representations of back catalog material. These things we call reissues have a place is the music business, but can be detrimental to an artist's career as well as helpful. What occasions are helpful and what occasions are detrimental? Let's examine some occasions where both of these outcomes happened.
For many artists, the reissue has been a useful tool in bringing early career work to the public's attention. Recent reissues in The Who's catalog have amplified early work by presenting monaural mixes (or stereo mixes), and placed their work in context. I have purchased the deluxe editions of The Who's albums, and have enjoyed most of them. The My Generation double cd set allowed the legal issue of an album that had grown very rare on vinyl, had been bootlegged, and was never available on cd. Mono and stereo mixes were presented, and several additional recordings were released. Similar work on The Who Sell Out deluxe double set added some tunes that were previously unavailable on cd, and in some cases were only found on bootlegs. The Who's Next deluxe double set added an early mix of most of the songs on the album, plus a live presentation of the same material. The Japanese have released a double cd set of Whos Missing Volumes 1 and 2 that is wonderful soundwise, and adds instead of detracts from their catalog. It is quite apparent that some of the ridicule that MCA/Universal was been subjected to regarding The Who's catalog has found an ear inside their corporation, and more thoughtful packages have been put together.
The "Boxed Set" became a tool for archive material presentation in the early 80s. I was involved as the booklet author and photo archivist for The Beach Boys Capitol Years 1980 boxed set, which was spearheaded in the UK by two collectors who involved other BB fans from around the world, Mike Grant and Roy Gudge. The resulting package collected singles issued in the UK and their "B" sides, as well as top album tracks from the Capitol catalog. For the first time, Brian Wilson's Productions outside of The Beach Boys were also presented. Despite some flaws in presenting songs in duophonic format instead of mono, the set was a major step forward in promoting The Beach Boys catalog. The Good Vibrations Boxed Set, from 1993 presented Smile Sessions music legally for the first time, as well as numerous previously unreleased tunes from the vaults. It garnered several awards, including "Best Reissue" from Rolling Stone Magazine. The reissue of Dennis Wilson's first solo albums, with supplementary material from the sessions for his second album shed new light on a work that is evidence of what was Dennis's growing mastery of the studio and songwriting genius.
Conversely, many of The Beach Boys albums were deleted from the Capitol catalog, to their detriment, and then reissued incomplete in the early 70s to the sound of crickets chirping. The fact that these reissues deservedly stiffed made Capitol rethink their while approach to The Beach Boys. As a result, Endless Summer was issued in 1974, and sold in the millions of copies because it thoughtfully compiled Brian Wilson 's early songs in a themed manner to a country shellshocked by Vietnam and Watergate. Sadly, it gradually also turned the touring Beach Boys into a human jukebox, but that was a commercial reality they had to reckon with in order to keep touring. Capitol's treatment of both The Beach Boys and Beatles output in the Sixties was horrible. US and UK Beatle albums were different, and US Capitol squeezed 11 albums out of the Beatles' first 7 UK albums. Right after Pet Sounds, Capitol issued a horrible Best of the Beach Boys album that for many other groups would have ended their career. Greatest Hits albums at that time signalled that a group was washed up. Capitol repeated this action two more times to less and less sales, with Best of the Beach Boys Volume 2 not receiving Gold Album status until years later, and Best of the Beach Boys Volume 3 deservedly turning into a "stiff."
With artists' collaboration, Capitol has more respectfully reissued both groups' catalogs on compact disc to deserved success. The Capitol "2-fers" presented The Beach Boys Capitol and Brother records material in a manner that encouraged new buyers to purchase unheard albums and discover them years after they were first issued. Capitol's unification of The Beatles material, at Apple's behest, to a standard format worldwide showed respect for the material as The Beatles first released it, and also gave US buyers a look at albums as they were released, instead of the mangled versions released by Capitol in the Sixties.The later issue of both Mono and Stereo Boxed Sets of their entire catalog showed the subtle and sometimes important difference between Beatles albums as mixed before their initial release.
For Motown fans, there has been a structured and progressive reissue of important parts of the Motown catalog, beginning with the Hitsville USA boxed set, and moving into reissues of numerous landmark albums from the Sixties and Seventies, along with compilations of singles for each year into boxed sets, and unissued masters. The reissue of some of Marvin Gaye's albums in the Deluxe series has offered some important insight into his creative process. What's Going On offers an alternate mix of the entire album, plus a live concert from the same period with album material.
Many artists have had excellent compilations of their work reissued in a manner sympathetic to the artist, and also have shed new light for listeners who do not want to buy expensive lps on the collectors'market. The Follow That Dream reissue program is designed by collectors for collectors, and amplifies phases of Elvis Presley's recording career in a way that allows the hard core collector to experience new discoveries that revitalize their interest in Elvis some 36 years after his demise. For less hardcore fans, such as myself, there are the Elvis RCA boxed sets collecting masters from the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies.
Clearly, in these times of growing willingness of artists to forego signing with a major company, thereby skipping the "middle man," so to speak, existing major companies-Warner, MCA/Universal, and Sony, are challenged to use their back catalogs wisely and present historical material from their catalogs in a respectful and creative manner that keeps artists from the past in the spotlight. Artists like Frank Sinatra, Dave Brubeck, Charles Mingus, Leonard Bernstein, and thousands more deserve to have their material available to new and upcoming listeners in formats that encourage discovery of their creative histories and preserve the legacy they created. Folklore is being reissued by The Smithsonian Institution in the same manner with their presentation of the Folkways and Lomax recordings. This is the approach needed with such archival material. Sloppy and thoughtless presentation of artists' catalogs is no longer in the interest of record companies or the artists they have in their vaults.
Copyright 2013 by Peter Reum-All Rights Reserved
For many artists, the reissue has been a useful tool in bringing early career work to the public's attention. Recent reissues in The Who's catalog have amplified early work by presenting monaural mixes (or stereo mixes), and placed their work in context. I have purchased the deluxe editions of The Who's albums, and have enjoyed most of them. The My Generation double cd set allowed the legal issue of an album that had grown very rare on vinyl, had been bootlegged, and was never available on cd. Mono and stereo mixes were presented, and several additional recordings were released. Similar work on The Who Sell Out deluxe double set added some tunes that were previously unavailable on cd, and in some cases were only found on bootlegs. The Who's Next deluxe double set added an early mix of most of the songs on the album, plus a live presentation of the same material. The Japanese have released a double cd set of Whos Missing Volumes 1 and 2 that is wonderful soundwise, and adds instead of detracts from their catalog. It is quite apparent that some of the ridicule that MCA/Universal was been subjected to regarding The Who's catalog has found an ear inside their corporation, and more thoughtful packages have been put together.
The "Boxed Set" became a tool for archive material presentation in the early 80s. I was involved as the booklet author and photo archivist for The Beach Boys Capitol Years 1980 boxed set, which was spearheaded in the UK by two collectors who involved other BB fans from around the world, Mike Grant and Roy Gudge. The resulting package collected singles issued in the UK and their "B" sides, as well as top album tracks from the Capitol catalog. For the first time, Brian Wilson's Productions outside of The Beach Boys were also presented. Despite some flaws in presenting songs in duophonic format instead of mono, the set was a major step forward in promoting The Beach Boys catalog. The Good Vibrations Boxed Set, from 1993 presented Smile Sessions music legally for the first time, as well as numerous previously unreleased tunes from the vaults. It garnered several awards, including "Best Reissue" from Rolling Stone Magazine. The reissue of Dennis Wilson's first solo albums, with supplementary material from the sessions for his second album shed new light on a work that is evidence of what was Dennis's growing mastery of the studio and songwriting genius.
Conversely, many of The Beach Boys albums were deleted from the Capitol catalog, to their detriment, and then reissued incomplete in the early 70s to the sound of crickets chirping. The fact that these reissues deservedly stiffed made Capitol rethink their while approach to The Beach Boys. As a result, Endless Summer was issued in 1974, and sold in the millions of copies because it thoughtfully compiled Brian Wilson 's early songs in a themed manner to a country shellshocked by Vietnam and Watergate. Sadly, it gradually also turned the touring Beach Boys into a human jukebox, but that was a commercial reality they had to reckon with in order to keep touring. Capitol's treatment of both The Beach Boys and Beatles output in the Sixties was horrible. US and UK Beatle albums were different, and US Capitol squeezed 11 albums out of the Beatles' first 7 UK albums. Right after Pet Sounds, Capitol issued a horrible Best of the Beach Boys album that for many other groups would have ended their career. Greatest Hits albums at that time signalled that a group was washed up. Capitol repeated this action two more times to less and less sales, with Best of the Beach Boys Volume 2 not receiving Gold Album status until years later, and Best of the Beach Boys Volume 3 deservedly turning into a "stiff."
With artists' collaboration, Capitol has more respectfully reissued both groups' catalogs on compact disc to deserved success. The Capitol "2-fers" presented The Beach Boys Capitol and Brother records material in a manner that encouraged new buyers to purchase unheard albums and discover them years after they were first issued. Capitol's unification of The Beatles material, at Apple's behest, to a standard format worldwide showed respect for the material as The Beatles first released it, and also gave US buyers a look at albums as they were released, instead of the mangled versions released by Capitol in the Sixties.The later issue of both Mono and Stereo Boxed Sets of their entire catalog showed the subtle and sometimes important difference between Beatles albums as mixed before their initial release.
For Motown fans, there has been a structured and progressive reissue of important parts of the Motown catalog, beginning with the Hitsville USA boxed set, and moving into reissues of numerous landmark albums from the Sixties and Seventies, along with compilations of singles for each year into boxed sets, and unissued masters. The reissue of some of Marvin Gaye's albums in the Deluxe series has offered some important insight into his creative process. What's Going On offers an alternate mix of the entire album, plus a live concert from the same period with album material.
Many artists have had excellent compilations of their work reissued in a manner sympathetic to the artist, and also have shed new light for listeners who do not want to buy expensive lps on the collectors'market. The Follow That Dream reissue program is designed by collectors for collectors, and amplifies phases of Elvis Presley's recording career in a way that allows the hard core collector to experience new discoveries that revitalize their interest in Elvis some 36 years after his demise. For less hardcore fans, such as myself, there are the Elvis RCA boxed sets collecting masters from the Fifties, Sixties, and Seventies.
Clearly, in these times of growing willingness of artists to forego signing with a major company, thereby skipping the "middle man," so to speak, existing major companies-Warner, MCA/Universal, and Sony, are challenged to use their back catalogs wisely and present historical material from their catalogs in a respectful and creative manner that keeps artists from the past in the spotlight. Artists like Frank Sinatra, Dave Brubeck, Charles Mingus, Leonard Bernstein, and thousands more deserve to have their material available to new and upcoming listeners in formats that encourage discovery of their creative histories and preserve the legacy they created. Folklore is being reissued by The Smithsonian Institution in the same manner with their presentation of the Folkways and Lomax recordings. This is the approach needed with such archival material. Sloppy and thoughtless presentation of artists' catalogs is no longer in the interest of record companies or the artists they have in their vaults.
Copyright 2013 by Peter Reum-All Rights Reserved
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