In news that will mean little to almost anyone but me (and really, isn't that the theme of this blog?) I finally scored the Rhino 2-CD "The Juliet Letters", adding another title to my Elvis Costello Rhino Reissue set! Thanks goHastings.com sale!

If I could just talk to someone at Popmarket...

Wow, I waited two weeks for the Jimi Hendrix box from Popmarket.com when that sale took place, but this time I'm into my 28th day and still nothing! The worst part is that I suspect they do have stock of the item, but I just can't get anyone to listen to me!
As I wrote to them:


I do not mean to be ungrateful in any way, but I just wanted to follow up on the communication below. The Jayhawks Vinyl bundle which I purchased Sept. 1 was offered four days later at popmarket.com as part of the week-long vinyl bundles page. It seems strange that an out of stock item would be later offered for sale for seven straight days.

Though this may be irrelevant information, I noticed on Sept. 1 that the bundle was listed as "Sold Out" for a short period of time, then re-offered at a lower price that same day. I suspect the incorrect price was posted at the time the sale began, and then listed as "Sold Out" for a time while the price was lowered to the one mentioned in emails and other promotions for that day's sale.

Is it possible that the sales that took place after the "Sold Out" designation were given a different stock number or inventory designation, and are being fulfilled along with the sales that took place the week of September 5? If so, could that identical product (though given a separate inventory number) be used to fulfill those orders like mine placed earlier in the day?

Now, 28 days later, the site is offering the LPs again, this time at another price point, and yet they responded to my 2nd query today by saying:

I'm sorry for any inconvenience with the order. Unfortunately, at this point of time we do not have information regarding the availability of your order. Once it is shipped to you, you will receive a notification email with the shipping details.

Sincerely,

Sony Music Digital
C1E4
Codys

Why would they continue to offer an item they aren't going to sell, that they can't sell? I just don't get it.

Blue (Or "all my life I'm waiting for...")

I hope this doesn't feel like the Bashing Popmarket Blog, but I just don't get this one: I bought the two Jayhawks albums the site offered as a one-day sale on Sept. 1. By Sept. 15 I still hadn't heard a peep about the shipment (even though it had been offered as part of a vinyl sale for an entire week Sept. 5-12) and so I wrote to them.
They said that even though they had offered the bundle for the past seven days, they did not have any in stock. So I continued to wait.
Now I find that they are offering the same bundle again as part of a vinyl page that appeared today. Yet they still haven't fulfilled the order from 26 days ago. I'm so bummed!

Black Sabbath vinyl - which is best?

Does anyone know why there are so many versions of the first Ozzy Black Sabbath albums on vinyl? Was there a licensing agreement before the labels started releasing LPs again? Which versions of these albums are the best?

Lou Reed: Master Reimagineer

Just heard Lou Reed's new version of "Peggy Sue" for that new Rave On, Buddy Holly record. It reminded me of Reed's "December Song" contribution to "Lost In The Stars", a similar take on Kurt Weill. That both reinterpreted the song and kept true to the number - no mean feat!
This ability to translate his style to different genres makes the Metallica collaboration even more exciting!

My Stones Collection

Anyway, here is my SACD Stones collection as it stands now:
The Rolling Stones
12x5
December's Children
Out of Our Heads
Out of Our Heads (UK)
Got Live If You Want It
Aftermath
Aftermath (UK)
Between the Buttons
Between the Buttons (UK)
Their Satanic Majesties Request
Beggars Banquet
Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out
Let It Bleed
Flowers
Hot Rocks
More Hot Rocks
Metamorphosis
Singles Collection

Gathering Rolling Stones SACDs

This weekend was a nice boost for the other large catalog of SACDs I'm collecting: The Rolling Stones.
But unlike the Bob Dylan collection, the Stones SACDs are not just getting hard to find. They are, and have been, hard to keep track of.
The early Rolling Stones catalog was released by Decca Records in the United Kingdom and London Records in the United States (see here for an explanation of the unique licensing agreement). As was the practice with other transatlantic releases by British Invasion bands, the two labels did not offer identical releases. For example, according to the website "Stones on Decca," that label made the decision not to release any singles on its LPs. This practice of releasing different LPs in each market continued until 1967, with the release of Their Satanic Majesties Request.
In that four-year period, 12 Rolling Stones albums released. In three cases, Out of Our Heads, Aftermath, and Between The Buttons, both the U.S. and U.K. releases had the same name but subtly different lineups. For example, the two versions of Between The Buttons feature 10 identical songs, but two songs unique to each release. Telling the two apart visually is also difficult: both have the same cover photo, but the U.K. version has a pinstripe around the edge.
For me, it gets even more confusing when different albums feature the same artwork. For example, the cover photograph is nearly identical for the U.K. release of Out of Our Heads and December's Children (And Everybody's):

 

while the U.S. release of Out of Our Heads featured a photo that reminds me of the release 12x5:

When ABKCO released the SACD versions of these albums in 2002, they could have made one country's releases standard (like The Beatles did when their albums were converted to CD). But for whatever reason, both catalogs were released. In fact, if one wants "everything" the Stones did, these get even more difficult to keep track of because one version of the album will have a mono version of the song, another will have the stereo version.

Just to add to the confusion, ABKCO stopped producing the catalog in SACD when the United States pressing plant closed. But unlike Columbia, which generated new stock numbers for the subsequent non-SACD releases, ABKCO continued using the same catalog numbers and UPC after SACD production ended. For that reason, there is no way to tell a standard "redbook" CD from an SACD version without seeing the paper "digipak" sleeve or the SACD logo printed directly on the disc. While this can keep the price of SACDs lower (if a CD shop doesn't have a knowledgable staff, they will price each version identically), it makes buying the SACDs from larger sites online almost impossible.

The result is that I'm not only unsure which SACDs I need to complete my collection, but that I'm not entirely sure which albums were released as SACDs in the first place. I think that my set is almost complete, and this week I added two titles to my collection.

First was England's Newest Hit Makers, the Stones first album, second was More Hot Rocks (Big Hits and Fazed Cookies).