'The Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook', Nov. '11

[johnfoyle]

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 74836.html

Friday 09 December 2011

Album: Elvis Costello and the Imposters, The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook!!! (Universal) (3/5)


Andy Gill


Elvis Costello's live CD/DVD package takes a different approach to Kylie's live show in which she uses a large spinner to select
which songs to sing.

There's an element of spontaneity about EC's approach that would torpedo Kylie's performance but which here adds an enjoyable tang of uncertainty. The tracks are drawn from all stages of EC's career, from early classics like "Mystery Dance" and "Watching the Detectives" to more recent triumphs like the bitter "National Ransom", mixed in with a few covers like "Out of Time". The set has a raw rock presence that belies the performers' vintage status, particularly Steve Nieve's, splendidly staccato Tex-Mex organ chops and piano excursions.

DOWNLOAD THIS Watching the Detectives; Every Day I Write the Book; Out of Time

Kylie review -

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 74837.html

[DodgyTC]

Can a few of you guys who bought this set post pictures of your autograph to kill or validate the "photocopy" rumor. That is my copy that is pictured a few posts back. Thanks.

Terry

[verbal gymnastics]

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-enter ... 74836.html

Friday 09 December 2011

Album: Elvis Costello and the Imposters, The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook!!! (Universal) (3/5)


Andy Gill


Elvis Costello's live CD/DVD package takes a different approach to Kylie's live show in which she uses a large spinner to select
which songs to sing.

Does she?

[migdd]

Only 12 remaining copies available at Amazon.

Amazon is now sold out. It appears this set is selling quite well.

[Kevin Davis]

My guess is they just didn't press that many of them.

[And No Coffee Table]

Amazon is now sold out. It appears this set is selling quite well.

Well, it depends on how many copies Amazon had to begin with, right? They were down to 18 copies on Wednesday. But did they start with 1,000? 500? 100? 25?

[cwr]

My guess is that they started with 100 or less.

[FAVEHOUR]

Can a few of you guys who bought this set post pictures of your autograph to kill or validate the "photocopy" rumor. That is my copy that is pictured a few posts back. Thanks.

Terry

I had to send for a second copy as the package was damaged in transit, and I can tell you the autographs on the two books are definitely different, it is not a stamp or copy.

Dave

[Natasha]

The 40 page book is mostly a reprint of the tour program, for which I already paid $25 I think....

Dave

I was just going to make this question to you guys.
I really want the book. I was worried it would only be avaiable in this package. Good to know that I'll be able to buy it separately later.

[verbal gymnastics]

My guess is they just didn't press that many of them.

It's 1500 copies worldwide isn't it? I would have thought they'd have been pressed in one country and shipped out to the various countries selling it.

The disc will have the pressing detail on it.

Still waiting for those pictures!

Who's going to post a picture of themselves spinning the miniature wheel?

[MOJO]

I received it and have # 11 of 1500. Sweet. It's one more than 10. The sound seems one louder, too. Video is cool. EC and the band sound awesome. Hope this show rolls through the SF bay area in 2012.

[migdd]

11 is better than 10.

[MOJO]

Indeed. Watching it now as I house sit in the south bay. It smells like burning wood down here. Scary air quality In Silicon Valley. I'm surrounded by highway and strip malls - HELP! The DVD is keeping me entertained. If I walked out the door right now, I could walk down the block to the Hungry Hunter that has a bar filled with dudes... Dudes with no brain cells because they are inhaling toxic air that settles in the valley. And so it goes...

The DVD video is awesome! God Give Me Strength is amazing.

[Jack of All Parades]

Now they are really going after the real villains!!!!!

http://social.entertainment.msn.com/mus ... 7bc82d65d7

[SoulForHire]

When I just checked Amazon, there were still 8 left

[johnfoyle]

Mark Perry permits me to share this -



Well, whether it’s a mistake or a satire, here in Cameron and Clegg’s rip-off Britain the Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook set retails on Amazon for the princely sum of £212.99. That’s $329.72 in US money, or so I’m reliably informed by the XE currency converter.

Elvis has very sportingly suggested investment in the fabulous-sounding Louis Armstrong Ambassador Of Jazz collection as a better use of your money. However, if, like me, you’re happy with your Hot Fives & Sevens box when it comes to Pops, you might want to consider other ways of securing more bang for your buck. Having nothing better to do, I just spent 10-15 minutes on an imaginary trolley dash around Amazon UK with a (definitely imaginary) two hundred quid or so burning a hole in my pocket.

I’ve listed my theoretical haul below. Very neatly (but entirely by accident) I ended up with a total of exactly 100 CDs for approximately the same cost as that infamously measly CD, DVD, 10-inch vinyl and a tacky badge (or whatever’s in the Costello box again). The only rules I set were to use Amazon’s own prices (rather than Marketplace offers, which were often even cheaper) and to stick to recent major label product (so no 20 year old 50-CD budget label Sinatra or Crosby collections mastered from third generation cassettes and pressed on refried dog crap). Oh, and it had to be stuff I own or would actually buy in real life.

I think the oldest item listed is the 2007 Stravinsky box, but I couldn’t resist including it because, as one of the Amazon reviewers says, it remains the CD bargain of the century. The recent Sony cut-price reconfigurations of their old Miles Davis, Elvis Presley and Billie Holiday sets are an absolute steal (even if figuring out how to fix discs back into the cut-down boxes is like trying to do a frigging Rubik’s cube). People who bought the original versions of these puppies must have swallowed hard when the cheapo editions appeared.

The Byrds - The Complete Album Collection [13-CD set] £30.26
Miles Davis, Gil Evans - The Complete Columbia Studio Recordings [6-CD set] £10.99
Miles Davis, John Coltrane - The Complete Columbia Recordings 1955-1961 [6-CD set] £10.99
Billie Holiday - Lady Day: The Complete Billie Holiday On Columbia [10-CD set] £22.69
Nina Simone - Complete RCA Albums Collection [9-CD set] £20.59
Elvis Presley - Walk A Mile In My Shoes: The Essential 70s Masters [5-CD set] £10.99
Elvis Presley - From Nashville To Memphis - Essential 60s Masters [5-CD set] £15.01
Leonard Cohen - The Complete Studio Albums Collection [11-CD set] £29.99
Sam Cooke - RCA Albums Collection [8-CD set] £22.97
Igor Stravinsky - Works of Igor Stravinsky [22-CD set] £28.99
Be Bop Deluxe - Futurist Manifesto 1974-1978 [5-CD s] £13.99

If I've done my sums correctly, the total cost of this little lot is 217.46 of your English pounds, or less than a fiver more than the puny Costello box. Can any of your readers beat this for value?

Mark

I'd call that a bargain, the best I ever had

[bambooneedle]

If EC can't do anything about the ripoff price he should disassociate himself from this product altogether. For real.

[the_platypus]

If EC can't do anything about the ripoff price he should disassociate himself from this product altogether. For real.

I thought he had?

[bambooneedle]

It's still being sold with his name on it, isn't it? Don't tell me it's not within his power to make them stop selling it. I could have drafted a cease and desist letter for him...

It really is a copout. All he really did was publicize himself while further guilting his poor completist fans into being ripped off.

[Jeremy Dylan]

That's ridiculous accusation. And for christ's sake, it's pretty simple:

If you think the album is too expensive, do not purchase it.

[jardine]

"If you think the album is too expensive, do not purchase it."

Although I'm not in agreement with some of what was said, this is not at all the point. We all realize that all of us are free to do buy or not buy whatever we please, and no one, I think, is missing this point. Honestly.

[the_platypus]

It's still being sold with his name on it, isn't it? Don't tell me it's not within his power to make them stop selling it. I could have drafted a cease and desist letter for him...

It really is a copout. All he really did was publicize himself while further guilting his poor completist fans into being ripped off.

I really don't think it's that simple, nor would I want to speculate on the specifics of his contract, licensing, etc. There are thousands of cases of record labels releasing products that are denounced by the artists, who are powerless to stop it because of legal reasons. A couple of cases that immediately spring to mind are Radiohead's Greatest Hits album, or that recent Morrissey live record... both bigger names than EC, yet powerless to remove their name from a product released by a record label.

[MOJO]

"Well, whether it’s a mistake or a satire, here in Cameron and Clegg’s rip-off Britain the Return Of The Spectacular Spinning Songbook set retails on Amazon for the princely sum of £212.99. That’s $329.72 in US money, or so I’m reliably informed by the XE currency converter."

I paid $202 US.

Whatever, OK, maybe it would be nice to have double the amount of tunes on it for the price. The packaging is OK. Sort of reminds of those old pop-up books (w/out the pop ups.). You don't see the pop up books on the market so much anymore. They must be to expensive to produce or there is not enough people in the publishing world doing acid. I guess the iPad has changed the market, too. Speaking of which, I'm surrounded by Apples right now. Lots of Apple computer buildings in my temp hood. Cupertino - yeah, real swinging town.

I like the box recommendations by Perry. I'll take the Sam Cooke, L Cohen, and Byrds box sets. Yes!

[Ymaginatif]

In any case, Elvis Costello must enjoy the controversy around all this, otherwise he wouldn't have thrown petrol on the fire.

It's an ugly situation that is being dealt with in an even uglier way.

[bambooneedle]

I really don't think it's that simple, nor would I want to speculate on the specifics of his contract, licensing, etc.

Probably not, but I intuit bull (you can't bullshit a bullshitter ). Calculated subterfuge. If someone wants to buy this boxset while being insulted by EC that's their business. Bronxapostle's and doc's boots are probably better anyway.

If you think the album is too expensive, do not purchase it.

Thank you for the information.