well, well, well. in the last few weeks (at time of writing, look you see) there's been not just one, and not so many as three (unless i missed something) but two (2) significant vibes releases ("drops") by major bands. and bands that i like quite a lot. yet i cannot, alas, tell you all that much of them, for there's no way they are getting purchased momentarily.
the albums, if indeed one of them can be considered such, would be Momento Mori off of Depeche Mode, and then (this is the consider one) Songs of Surrender off of U2. at once these would have been instant, pretty much autopilot purchases, but no. reasons exist in variety as to why i walked out of HMV with neither (of either), with some of it being down to cost.
for some this may well all sound like a whine, or a moan. certainly it could also be said that this is all very much "first world problem" territory, but here we are on my blog, with you reading it off of a fancy device of some description. whether it comes through or not, there is going to be a vague semblance of an intent to pose a question.
commencing with the most recently released, then, which would be the Depeche Mode one. all i know of it, really, is the lead "single", Ghosts Again, which has been played so often during each and every day on (bbc) Radio 2 for the last couple of months it could conceivably make one wonder if they needed someone to lend them a few tapes or records to add variety to the playlist. but, then again, it's a really, really good song, and makes a compelling advert for buying the record it was released to promote. except, the price.
i was not alone in commenting on that social media thing (book of faces) when the link to "pre order" came out. by the way, i hate that term, surely it's just ordering it? if they said "pre release order" then that would make more sense. anyway, the pricing, man. over on the official website it was so that, as i remember, they wanted £17 for the "standard" tape (compact disc) and £25 (!!) for the "deluxe" variation. with the deluxe offering no extra disc, or extra tracks, but a book which (presumably) features images of Martin and Dave looking all sultry and moody.
most, if not all (there are some exceptions) bands, artists or what have you somehow manage to charge around the £10 mark for a standard disc, and maybe up to £15 (or a bit more, or less or "fewer") for any la-de-dah special version. which has kind of been the "fixed" pricing for such for quite some time now, which makes me think "hang on".
above are two of the (ridiculous) three (3!) tape (compact disc) variations of Songs Of Surrender, which offers what is proclaimed as "re-imagined" versions of U2 songs. yeah. so far as i am aware it's all stabs at making them "acoustic", with the intention being to have them more "intimate" listening experiences for people now used to listening to compressed streams via headphones. which is not the U2 i love.
i would ask (or suggest) you not to quote me, but of the three (!) variations, i believe a "standard" 16 track edition is circa £11, the "deluxe" 20 track version (on one disc) is £15 and the "super deluxe" four disc set of 40 (forty) tracks is just south of £30. going on what i have heard of the album, or indeed compilation if that is a more better description (can one call a whole bunch of re-recordings, and ones that i believe 50% of the band had very little to do with, this being mostly Bono and Edge), the best version is probably the cheapest as it is less (fewer) bad by default for being shorter. also, if they can get twenty of these monstrosities of versions on one disc, why do forty of them need 4 discs?
not sure, but i think the first thing i heard off of it was Pride. which, in its original form, was one hell of a powerful, brilliant song, and likely the first time the world at large (allowing for some success before it) got a glimpse of the band they would be. here it sounds like Bono is in some distress, like he's kind of learning how to speak again or something like that. once more, Radio 2 played a lot. i believe it was around the time they played the now completely wrecked, destroyed version of Desire that i said no, thanks. at least for now. whereas U2 have delivered underwhelming albums before - Pop, for instance, or even worse, No Line On The Horizon - this is something else.
but what i was thinking with the "hang on" part, in regards of pricing. whereas virtually everything else has gone up a few notches in price, tapes (compact discs) and videos (dvd and blu ray) have not. with limited exceptions (like Depeche Mode here), new albums have come out on disc for £10, with a few quid more for any 'extra' added version. likewise, a basic video (dvd) has been £10 on release for a long time, with the fancy video (blu ray) being a fiver more. within the realm of "arts", even paperbacks have gone up in price, and yest there exists a digital alternate for them, too.
oh, no. i didn't leave HMV empty handed, as you can see above (in the greater good and glory, of course, of Commodore 64 mode). they had an "alternative 80s" selection on display, and in truth i had been giving consideration to picking up Disintegration off of The Cure for a while. believe i did have it, yes, but no idea what happened to the tape, be it actual or disc. as for Motorhead, well, you got it at that price with any purchase, so why would you not. like the idea of them promoting it, on the sticker, as being a collection of their "loudest" songs. i am not certain they did any quiet ones? can't really see Lemmy walking into a studio and saying "let's do a ballad on this album".
to the price stability, then. i suspect the price of vibes and videos has been "locked" for so long as the studios worked out this was the most they could push people for with "disposable income buys" instead of cheaper alternates. you can, after all, pluck any album or film for "free" off of the internet. them streaming services are also quite cheap, or at least used to be. can still do so for free (with ads) for music, but films is getting costly with all the different services. a realistic reason for this presumed quasi price cap, then, is that without a physical presence (or alternate) for us collectors, the studios what make films and music would be 100% at the mercy of the likes of amazon and the various streaming services.
generally, no there is no way i am giving up on what now gets termed "physical media". i am absolutely not trusting my music choices to be in the hands of some "streaming service", where the quality is lesser, i can't play it on my regular stereo and it could all end up being taken away from the service with the flick of a finger. i want to hear a specific tape, i put that tape on. same is pretty much true of videos, with what i may wish to watch not necessarily on any streaming services, or needing to pay for three or four different ones just to watch three or four different films.
at best, buying the "standard" versions of these two (2) albums would have been an outlay of £30. to go full tilt "proper" fan would have been £55. no, no, and also no to the intermediate values between the two by mixing in different versions. i am not adverse to getting f****d over for vibes i want. consider, for instance, last year, when i was required to pay excessively for Toy at £28, when we were told that this was the only version of it coming out. and then they released a single disc version later.
every chance exists that both albums will be in the collection, eventually. both of the previous albums by both bands (did that come out right) were available, new and sealed, for a fraction of the original price not long after. in fact, as i recall, the Depeche Mode one, Spirit, that i paid £18 for the deluxe of went down to south of £5 for the same thing. criminally, the previous U2 album, Songs Of Experience, which was brilliant, soon became available for about £2, and then i saw it for £1. my suspicion is, like the most recent Barbs tape, quite soon a very large stockpile of unsold copies of these albums will make it all the way to bulk dealers over on ebay, who will sell it off at a profit to them whilst also having the price very well below what they currently go for. i am prepared to wait a few months and check.
sure, there is a temptation just to "pirate" both albums. i'd rather have the proper ones, though, thanks. a time existed where i would have just taped (onto an actual cassette) both off of a mate. however, my circle of friendship hasn't got that much of a radius no more. what friends remain are ones who do not purchase tapes themselves, and (kind of) understand why i do but remain all the same perplexed that i do. so, i shall just wait for the prices to fall.
be excellent to each other!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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