Despite Fed Ex's best efforts, I picked up my box set today.
Despite Fed Ex's best efforts, I picked up my box set today.
Hi there,
Got my copy from FYE today, $262 including shipping. Took less than a week to arrive.
Thanks for the tip, would not have bought otherwise.
IMG_7686.jpg
https://forums.stevehoffman.tv/threa...#post-22791824I then called Burning Shed and spoke with a very nice — and patient! — gentleman there who looked up my order and said everything looked okay, and then said, "You might've gotten the very last copy," and sure enough, as of about 4 AM PST, their site suddenly now lists it as "Out of stock.".
^^^^^^^^^^^
Not like I’ve EVER been wrong before.......
Steve F.
www.waysidemusic.com
www.cuneiformrecords.com
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
“Remember, if it doesn't say "Cuneiform," it's not prog!” - THE Jed Levin
Any time any one speaks to me about any musical project, the one absolute given is "it will not make big money". [tip of the hat to HK]
"Death to false 'support the scene' prog!"
please add 'imo' wherever you like, to avoid offending those easily offended.
Wow! Glad I purchased (though Santa has seen fit to keep it from me for a while—that dick.).
I want to dynamite your mind with love tonight.
Just come up on the Gentle Giant Facebook page
To all Gentle Giant fans, friends & followers..
A note from the band’s distributors:
Due to an unprecedented demand for ‘Unburied Treasure’, the pressing will be sold out within the week. Given the universally positive reviews and comments from customers it is clear that there are many fans who might now struggle to find a copy, or face the prospect of buying in secondary markets at hugely inflated prices. Madfish has therefore resolved, after discussions with the band, to generate a final run of one thousand copies, identical to the first pressing, including the photograph individually signed by the band members, and available at the same price. These will be available to ship in April 2020, and can be pre-ordered now. Madfish hopes that this move will please fans, and can be contacted via madfishmusic.com by any customers with queries or concerns.
From Burning Shed: https://burningshed.com/store/gentle...reasure_boxset
I'm glad to hear this. Yes, I know - capitalism, free market, etc - but with such a small original run, it seemed clear that some folks were buying the box so they could turn around and flip it for a significantly inflated price. Sure, nothing wrong with that. Except that, for me, these special super deluxe box sets are clearly intended for those who want to enjoy the music and the rest of the contents, and that some people missed out and had to face the possibility if buying on the secondary market for a lot more money just feels wrong, especially so close to it's release.
So, for those who are buying these things to flip them later? Go for it, but you'll have to wait awhile longer
But me? I'm just glad to hear that another 1,000 people (or, hopefully, the majority of them) will be able to get the box set to enjoy, even if they missed out on the first run. Based on what appears to be pretty much universal positive critical acclaim (including yours truly) and word of mouth, clearly this is (as is my view) one of the best box sets of the year, and I always felt 2,000 wasn't going to be enough.
John Kelman
Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
Freelance writer/photographer
my music collection increased tenfolds when I switched from drug-addicts to complete nutcases.
It is a market problem :the music is also a merchandise.
the offer is inferior to orders and the price run on second market.
It is also a market in monopolistic concurrence ("special deluxe box sets") and the price is higher !!!
Saw it in my favourite record shop today for 300 Euros, took it up respectfully, hold it for a couple of seconds (slight temptation of buying it) and put it delicately back. Transportstrike in Paris makes it just too difficult to carry heavy things around for longer. Went for a Larks Tongues vinyl reedition instead. Cheaper and lighter...
Dieter Moebius : "Art people like things they don’t understand!"
I understand all these things, of course. I just wish it weren’t that way. Sure, between OOP box sets and signed limited edition books, I’ve a potentially good chunk of money, were I ever to need it. But it’s not why I buy these things; I buy them because I want to enjoy them and to cherish them. All other considerations are secondary.
John Kelman
Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
Freelance writer/photographer
Damn it! I guess I'll have to wait a while before scalping the hundred copies I snagged...
Hope the band doesn't have writer's cramp yet.
Dave Sr.
I prefer Nature to Human Nature
Hurtleturtled Out of Heaven - an electronic music composition, on CD and vinyl
https://michaelpdawson.bandcamp.com
http://www.waysidemusic.com/Music-Pr...MCD-spc-7.aspx
Just to be clear: it wasn’t a feeler quantity. It was, as originally intended, a hard and fast number. But because the demand for the box has far exceeded expectations (coupled with secondary market copies already showing up at ridiculously inflated prices), they decided to revisit that number. It’s always tough to try to decide how many limited edition boxes should be made. Sometimes you’re right, sometimes you’re still left with copies of the box sitting on shelves...and sometimes you undershoot. It sure ain’t a science, though labels are typically pretty good at informed, educated estimates. But, and it thrills me to say considering how much I love Gentle Giant, this time they estimated short.
And so, Madfish’s decision was not an easy one, as it typically honours limited runs. But the demand was so high (even an extra thousand isn’t likely enough) and the label wanted to try to scuttle those who bought it, not because they wanted it, but to contribute to it selling out so that they could turn around and sell at a bigger profit.
3,000 is still a good number in terms of exclusivity, I think, and will, at least for now, stop the “for profit” buyers from flipping their copies, and allow those who missed out but want the box for the right reasons to be able to still get one at list - and while it isn’t cheap, I don’t think there’s any question that the box provides value for money. Even just the CDs and Blu Ray would be a little over £8/disc, which isn’t awful. Add the two books, other goodies and the packaging, and I think Unburied Treasure is priced pretty much right. Just my opinion, but there it is.
I, for one, am pleased. Free market and capitalism be damned!
Last edited by jkelman; 12-21-2019 at 06:15 PM.
John Kelman
Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
Freelance writer/photographer
...If you believe it ends there. Who's to say their won't be another "special run" because... I'm a skeptic. but shit, it's all product now anyway.
"Always ready with the ray of sunshine"
What I wrote was, in part, from conversations with the label rep with whom I worked for my review. I’ve worked with him before, and if he says they’re usually hard-lined about represses, and that this was an unusual circumstance, I know him well enough to believe him. Don’t know if that’s enough for you to as well, but that’s what I know.
Also, small indie labels like Madfish, Panegyric, Cuneiform, MoonJune, etc absolutely do not treat what they do as product. Of course they want their releases to sell, but whether you believe me or not I know that their objectives are driven by art, not the bottom line. Obviously they want to sell enough to recoup expenses and make some money, but none of them are getting fabulously wealthy doing what they do.
Any record label wants to make some money (hey, it’s their living); but the question is: what comes first..art or commerce? Every label I just mentioned is driven by artistic concerns first, in other words to create releases (whether new or archival) that matter to them creatively. If they sell enough to recoup and show some kind of profit, that’s great. If something happens, as with the Giant, where they under-estimate demand and so decide to repress? I think that’s worth celebration.
Who knew there’d be more than 3,000 people prepare to pay £250 for a career-spanning Gentle Giant box? I, for one, am thrilled; it’s great for the label, and must feel great for a band that strived for greater success back in the day, but never seemed to be able to achieve it!
Last edited by jkelman; 12-23-2019 at 02:33 PM.
John Kelman
Senior Contributor, All About Jazz since 2004
Freelance writer/photographer
Well, considering there's no end to places online (YT, FB, blogs, reviews, etc.) where one see comments about how underrated and underappreciated they are, it's nice to see that so many people seem to have put their money where their mouths were. I'm glad they had to press more.
And I'm guessing that for some, the ability to not only hear the alternate live versions, but to read all the accounts of individual performances is the next best thing to being at a concert that they never had the opportunity to attend. There are some great reads in that tour history book alone.
Last edited by Adv3MP; 12-24-2019 at 09:28 AM.
Kinda feels like they could sell 2000 in Quebec alone.
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