Reissues

So the word is The Eagles are going to reissue their catalogue in December. They remastered and reissued their catalogue back in 1999 and overall, the results were favorable. Is this really necessary to do again 8 years later? The remasters sound great. There is no artistic reason for this. This is simply a way for the band to cash in on the success of “Long Road Out Of Eden.”

Who is this aimed at? The hardcore fan base. The Eagles want their hardcore fans to shell out hundreds of dollars to repurchase their catalogue because it supposedly will sound better (and who knows, maybe there will be some nice artwork in digipaks with liner notes). The only way there will be real value here is if there are bonus tracks consisting of alternate takes and outtakes – and this will not be the case.

C’mon guys, your fans don’t need or want another batch of remasters. The devoted fan-base wants something archival. Back around 2000, when the band was planning on launching its own label, one of the reasons was to start issuing archival releases, particularly live shows that were in the vaults. Of course, shortly thereafter, Don Felder was fired under strange circumstances and ultimately he sued Henley and Frey with the legal battle lasting for almost 7 years. Now that the legal matter has been settled, the door has been opened for the archival projects to surface again. There are some fantastic vintage concerts in The Eagles’ vaults – that is what the fans want.

EMI is doing the same thing with John Lennon’s catalogue next month as well. Hello? Haven’t they been reissuing the Lennon catalogue over the past several years? Unless they are planning on erasing the Yoko revisionist mixes (stay away from Yoko’s version of “Walls And Bridges”), then this is another example of a label attempting to screw the fan. Instead of issuing Lennon’s solo work again, why not focus on finishing remastering The Beatles’ catalogue which is in desperate need of attention?

Now there are some catalogues that do need upgrades. Bruce Springsteen, are you listening? Springsteen has one of the most important catalogues in Rock history and right now the vast majority of it is available on badly mastered CDs with very generic and bland packaging. Black Sabbath’s U.S. catalogue on Warner Brothers is a disgrace unless you want to shell out $120+ for a remastered box set of all the Ozzy-era albums (Sabbath’s catalogue is beautifully done by Sanctuary in the UK). The Faces’ catalogue is also desperately in need of an upgrade and fortunately the word is that the remasters are coming in 2008 with bonus material. And of course there are others.

The main thing with catalogues that have been issued multiple times is that it only serves to take advantage of a devoted fan base, a fan base that has been supportive for an extended period of time and that has spend a lot of money on product. The fan base should be treated with some respect and consideration. What do they really want after years of supporting a band or an artist? More remasters? No, they want unreleased performances. Sure, one can obtain this stuff from the underground markets, but usually the sound quality leaves something to be desired. Led Zeppelin fans love the “Burn Like A Candle” bootleg, but there is something nice about being able to crank performances that are fantastically mixed and mastered from the officially released “How The West Was Won.”

Record labels have a lot of music at their disposal that they can release. They have vaults full of it and a lot of fans would be surprised how much cool stuff is unreleased. Some artists have more archival material than others, but these kinds of performances are plentiful in the record company vaults. You want to generate substantial sales? Give hardcore fan bases what they want. Neil Young released a 1971 Massey Hall performance early this year and it moved hundreds of thousands of units – his new Chrome Dreams II studio release has moved around 75,000. Vault releases are in demand.

Fans want music from the vaults, not a consistent flow of rehashed remasters. There are definitely catalogues of legacy artists and bands that need attention, but once a catalogue is reissued and the devoted fan base has purchased the new versions, they shouldn’t be targeted by greedy, ruthless label executives trying to find a way to squeeze another buck out of a consumer that has already paid. Vault releases could be a nice way for labels to generate much needed income in the frightening landscape they are facing. Too bad they don’t see it that way.