Big Al

Billy Bob Thornton makes an ass of himself. In other news today, the sun came up. Details after this....

Agreed, but only if they were putting just the single mix on the disc. Revolver with the singles in both stereo and mono runs slightly longer than 80 minutes. I know: I already tried it! Same here!

LONG POST WARNING Just letting the accounting brain work for a minute here: 1) Who comprises the market for these reissues? Us Beatlemaniacs would like to think that it’s a vast majority of them. But as has been pointed out, CD sales continue to fall, downloads/streaming are up. Sure, there is a new generation of Beatles fans all the time, but that generation belongs to the download/streaming generation. They couldn’t care less about packaging, extras. So yes, the market is out there, but how willing are they going to be to spend money on these upgrades? 2) The answer to that question would be the result of the answer to this question: how much effort should be put into making the mono mixes available? Casual Beatles fans will be happy with just the stereo mixes, and most of those “casual” fans are of the download/streaming generation. Case in point: my son got me one of The Capitol Boxes for my birthday this year. Being a Beatles fan himself, he promptly ripped the STEREO tracks to his mp3 player. 3) If the mono mixes are made available, what is the most cost-efficient way to go? Remember, EMI is in this to make money and nothing else. Artistic integrity, original packaging, etc etc etc... all well and good as long as it doesn’t negatively affect the bottom line. So, how do you do it? Append each mono mix to the stereo mix like The Capitol Boxes? Why not? They’d all fit perfectly. So why not do it like that? 4) Because of all the singles, B-sides, EPs, and other songs that didn’t make it onto the proper albums. I can tell you right now that were EMI to try THAT route, THEN you’d have to go back to the format of stereo on one disc, mono on the other. 5) Ultimately, there are two groups: Beatlemaniacs (a fickle bunch, to say the least, who will gripe about every imperfection (real and perceived) and either not spend the money, or spend the money begrudgingly and then post on amazon.com how horrible every single disc sounds and don't waste your money); and everyone else. I think EMI is targeting everyone else while trying to appease Beatlemaniacs as best they can. This, IMHO, is the smart move because everyone else will likely be happy about the releases while the Beatlemaniacs (who can't even agree amongst themselves the best way to reissue this music) will find new and unusual ways to look a gift-horse (or at the very least a $10 horse) in the mouth. The only conclusions I can come to in this is the following: 1) Capitol saw a void that needed to be filled: upgraded Beatles CDs, faithful to the original UK albums. 2) Capitol recognized that there is a market out there for the mono mixes, but not every Beatles CD buyer is going to be interested in those mixes. 3) Simultaneously, they also recognized that those who ARE interested in any mono mix WILL want them all. While I think that it would’ve been great to package them a la the Rhino 2-CD Elvis Costello re-issues, I think that would’ve been cost-prohibitive because there will be a much bigger pressing of Beatles CDs than Elvis CDs, therefore raising the cost of each disc. Plus, given that the rights to the Beatles songs are WAY more expensive than the Costello songs, AND the assumption that EMI has to pay TWICE for both the stereo AND the mono of a single song, making all of these available as 2-CD sets might actually cause EMI to lose money on this whole extravaganza. I may be wrong in my assumption of the cost of these songs, but it seems to me that, sound issues aside, the real issue holding up any Beatles upgrade has been and will always be about money. This is the only reason I can think of why there won’t be any outtakes, unreleased takes, etc (I’d love to have that alternate take of “Tomorrow Never Knows” on the Revolver CD). So, assuming all of this is true, a stand-alone mono box actually makes sense because there won't be NEARLY the number of pressings for this as there will be for the stereo mixes. Me personally, I’m likely going to buy it all: stereo discs and mono box, simply because I couldn’t stand the original issues and all I have now are the Capitol Boxes and the Purple Chicks, and would like to be able to own these properly. In other words, bring on September 9th!!!

I deleted the contents of this post. Go directly to post #10 in this thread. Thanks! Just ignore this thread altogether. Instead, go to this thread.

Hey RDK! Inquiring minds wanna know the answers!

Thanks for the offer, Thom. I should be able to continue doing the digital thing for everyone, but it's nice to know I've got a backup in case something happens. thedwork and Hot Ptah, I'll get you guys on the list. It's kinda flexible right now, so even though you guys are on the tail-end, I'm about to publish a check-in thread for those on the list.

"the dworkin." i'll keep an eye out or send me a private message and we can talk about it. as far as the whole discussion on the hows and whys and ifs of the BFT here, i'm too much of a newbie here to feel like i should be saying what's what. D'OH!!!! I should've taken the extra two or three seconds to make sure I knew what I was writing!

Only 1,000+ ? Surprised the board hasn't crashed altogether...

I understand where you're coming from, but so far you're the only one who's bothered by the decision. Nothing's set in stone, though; I'd love it if interest picked up. The note on the signup thread says "FINAL BFT for now." Personally, I hope that changes; however, of those who are signed up, only three or four have responded saying they're still planning on doing their month. Besides, which thread title do you think would generate more interest: "Should we continue with the BFT?" or "BFT to be put on indefinite hiatus."

When was this decided? A couple weeks ago, but I just started this thread to make the formal announcement.

After discussing with mikeweil and seeing the waning interest in the BFT, we have decided that December 2009 will be the last BFT until further notice. Before the dworkin's post today, we hadn't had a new BFT compiler sign up in ages. A revised schedule will be posted shortly as soon as I can work out with the dworkin when he's going to lead his BFT. It's been fun, folks. Maybe a long break is what this needs, and then hopefully it'll come back at full strength.

Is there something in the air right now that we've gotten two of these kinds of stupid-ass spams this week?

I've always been partial to the Ventures version on $1,000,000 Weekend. Ashamed to say I'm not familiar with any jazz versions, and since I dig this tune too, this will be a cool thread to watch. Can y'all fill me in on which albums I can find these that have been mentioned: James Brown Stanley Turrentine Sonny Criss

The next ass you plan to kick The next time you plan on getting your ass kicked Forum members whose asses you'd like to kick Forum members who'd like to kick your ass

Banned because the unanimous answer would be "the 70s" so there would be no further reason to discuss it. I don't think this is really true. Like "favorite era of SNL" - the answer is the era that you were first exposed to. So I think there'd be plenty of fans of the 80s and later. Interesting choice of words there, Dan.....

And a happy April Fools Day to you too, Swede!

that's fine, I didn't need dinner anyway....

Things You Miss By NOT Participating in the Politics Forum

Yep, mailed 'em out yesterday to the following: mikeweil thedwork Free For All Let me know if I left anyone out or if anyone else wants a CD copy.

The Untouchables on AMC. Reminded why this is one of my all-time favorite movies.

Whatever Happened to Nunya (the "Stand down, liberal" poster)?

Half Price Books: It is annoying to have to wade through their three or four legitimate used jazz CDs when you only want to look at hundreds of gray market Spanish CDs and other cheapo rip-offs. Damn straight!

Anyone Else Having Trouble Finding Herb Alpert, Boots Randolph, or Spyro Gyra LPs at Half-Price Books?

Ooooooohhhh