Paul Weller rarities and more
Posted by Pierre Igot in: MusicJuly 24th, 2003 • 1:13 am
Just found out that Paul Weller is releasing a 3-CD set of “b-sides and rarities” entitled Fly On The Wall. That’s what happens when you don’t CHECK artist web sites on a regular basis (or when this essential kind of news item is buried several screens deep on a secondary page)!
Fortunately,
101cd.com was kind enough to remember that I had purchased Paul Weller stuff from them in the past and to send me an email about the new release.
Such releases are always a bit hard to stomach when you’ve been collecting CD singles with non-album b-sides and other “rarities” for years, often at a significant cost, and then the artist makes everything available to you for a reasonable price. On the other hand, if I hadn’t amassed these CD singles, I would have had to wait up to 10 years to hear the music (in these Napster-less days). And it’s not like Paul Weller hasn’t done this before (re-releasing rarities). I just hope that the artist gets a decent cut on the sales of CD singles as well. This way not all my money will have been “wasted” and used to essentially fatten up the pockets of art-less record company executives…
I was going to buy the release locally here in Canada, but www.mymusic.com doesn’t even list it yet, and Amazon.ca lists it at a much higher price than what I will pay by importing it directly myself from 101cd.com. So guess who’s getting my money?
Strangely, Amazon.ca lists a release date of July 22, when the artist site itself mentions August 25. I highly doubt that the triple CD set would get such an advance release in Canada. Probably erroneous information. In addition, when I checked this morning, the set was something like 48$CAN. I just checked again and it’s gone up to 54.99$CAN. It’s a racket, when it’s available for 13.99 pounds in the UK. (The UK of all places, with their high CD prices!)
With Jean-Louis Murat releasing a new double album on August 25 as well, and Prince‘s N.E.W.S. CD (which is finally shipping in quantities) and Live in Aladdin DVD coming in August, it’s going to be a musical summer in this house!