With all of the abilities to produce almost anything nearly at our beck and whim, I have to wonder if utilizing Kickstarter (or Kickstarter-like programs) could be possible to set into motion wanted remasters of albums that usually get ignored.
I bring this up because, within a recent article, the thoughts of likely to be never remastered albums like Heroes Are Hard To Find, Bare Trees, and Mystery To Me, all from Fleetwood Mac arose in discussion. And there is much truth in this. Great titles that didn’t have HUGE possibilities monetarily are usually not brought to the discussion table when suggesting reissue titles.
But the problem there is the need of profit.
What if there were really no need for profit, but rather the satisfaction of producing albums that would be made available to fans?
I will admit to not knowing nearly enough here as to the needs of licensing, remastering, reproductions, and all that jazz but it seems to me that more obscure titles would not need the overhead of more lucrative titles. And if this be the case, I wonder if someone (me?) were to do the legwork with inquiries, could we start a Kickstarter campaign for each wanted title? We could make these things quite attractive, certainly numbered, and rare indeed.
Just an idea, that I thought that I would throw out there.
SO, if this were the case and we could bring this kind of thing to fruition, what would you think? And if you think such a thing could be cool, what obscure titles would you like to see “kick-started”?
I think that is a great idea. If a studio owns an album and it never made money or sold enough copies and if it has no plans to re-release it (remastered or not), I don’t think it is too hard to get the rights to release it. As a matter of fact, many of the albums I would love to be properly released on CD come from the 60’s instrumental era. Many of these albums are not owned by any studio but rather by a bank or a trust of some sort or even by an individual. The problem I see is, who is going to do it? I mean, it takes a certain amount of experience and expertise and equipment to take a master tape and transfer it. And if you don’t have some buddy with a reputation or something, would they even release a master to you? I believe that once you do that, getting the artwork done and printed and pressing and packing the discs wouldn’t be too complicated. Distribution might be tricky also (depending on how many were going out). I really like your idea of making them special though. Limited and number editions would be fantastic. I am a member of the Audio Fidelity releases and get all of them. Really love the straight from the tape masters they do. Most sound really fantastic. The problem is, they just don’t do as many of the albums “I” would like done. Running a Kickstarter program would be great. If title was funded, it would be produced! Love it!
If I could have any title(s) I wanted done (drools on keyboard), it would be:
Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass – Volume 2 (1963)
Herb Alpert amp; the Tijuana Brass – Warm (1969)
Herb Alpert amp; the Tijuana Brass – Summertime (1971)
Herb Alpert amp; the T.J.B. – You Smile – The Song Begins (1974)
Herb Alpert amp; the T.J.B. – Coney Island (1975)
Herb Alpert – Just You and Me (1976)
That is just a couple of the hundreds I would like. How many of you guys want these??? Ha, ha. That is part of the problem and that is why this is an outstanding idea and why Matt Rowe is a genius!!
Genius?!
And Future Games! FG and Bare Trees have long been on my “I’d buy the remastered version in a heartbeat” list.
It has always amazed me that there has not been a compilation (2 discs at least) of all of the Reprise / Warner LP’s from Then Play on up to Fleetwood Mac (their white album)…even include some of the Peter Green tunes…Man of the World, Albatross etc. I have made my own and there is a thread that flows through these great recordings right into Rumours and beyond. They have had some incredible guitarists, songwriters and vocalists. And…yes remaster these albums! Kiln House, Penguin…a true Rhino missed opportunity.
Well, this is weird, I had exactly the same thought last week-end! I was just thinking that I didn’t know much about that period of the Mac, the Peter Green first years on blue horizon have been well documented, and I wouldn’t even talk about the Buckingham/Nicks years… But even in the “Chain” box set (not chronologically sorted, I hate when they do that) there’s not a lot about those albums. And yes a 2 cd compilation would be GREAT! Rhino, if you’re listening…
P.S. A 2 cd compilation of deep cuts for the first years of Chicago would also be a good thing
I have no dog in this fight. I’ve hunted down most everything I care about on cd. I don’t know that I’d run out and rebuy a lot of them just because they were remastered. I already feel a little guilty (or foolish) for rebuying some albums 5+ times (in different formats and remasters). I guess if it’s something you listen to regularly then that’s OK but I try to be real picky about what I will rebuy now days.
With that said, I am sure that if you release it there will be a market for it. People will buy them. It’s the obscure part that makes it a tough sell because, in the end, someone does need to make a profit.
There are definitely some obscure titles that I would buy remasters of but I’d definitely think about how many times I’ve listened to that album in the last 5 years before I did.
We can’t even get “Tango in the Night” or “Mirage” which had multiple hits remastered let alone the early stuff.
A few I’d like to see remastered:
Max Q-Max Q
The Smithereens-Especially For You
And a few popular comps:
The Cure-Standing On A Beach
The English Beat-What Is Beat?
English Beats were all reissues!! Check out The Second Disc website – they just did a write up on the releases
How about getting the remainder of the Elton John Classic Years albums that have been already have 5.1 mixes completed by Greg Penny released on Blu-Ray?
Don’t Shoot Me
Rock Of The Westies
Caribou
Blue Moves
Amazon sells CDs on demand by burning CDs to order. I have gotten a remastered copy of Dr. John’s Right Place, Wrong Time CD and a Howard Johnson CD in that way. It clearly is doable.
Joe
Fantastic idea! I mean, some of the small labels have been doing a great job, but some of the major labels won’t give them access to certain things. This would be a way for the labels to know what the interest really is.
In the way overdue are “Dark Horse” and “Extra Texture” from George Harrison. The Elton John albums Bruce mentioned I would certainly add. Plus Jari is right on “Mirage” and “Tango In The Night.” Are you reading this Rhino? Enough with another reissue of “Rumours.”
I’d love to see the Sammy Hagar Van Halen albums remastered. The Roth albums were done in 2000 and sound great. Also, how about a deluxe edition of Tom Petty’s Full Moon Fever? Deluxe editions of select Led Zeppelin albums? (IV, II, Physical Graffitti?) The first 2 Def Leppard albums, especially High ‘N’ Dry… Deluxe editions of early Aerosmith or AC/DC? there IS a market for all of the above!
We’ve all been waiting for a deluxe edition of Appetite For Destruction from GNR for a decade – at least!
Love it, Matt!