I keep looking for copies of it on vinyl and it seems to no longer be available from SST directly or other retailers. Is it being reissued? Have the masters reverted to the band?
Hmm, I haven't heard that they were out of print. I've an original press, (bought upon release), while being great music, the pressing hasn't impressed me. ( Sorry for the pun.) Off topic, but saw them several times early to mid 80's. D.Boon was inspirational!
I can’t imagine an album that high profile would be OOP. More than likely it is awaiting a repress but is backed up thanks to worldwide shutdowns and both pressing plants and printers who make the sleeves. I’m not too worried.
I’d love for someone to get the rights to this and do a nice remastered reissue. Ginn holds onto all the SST records so tight and does nothing with them. I hate it.
Well, Mike Watt is very loyal to him for whatever reason. I just can’t believe no one has managed to buy them out yet
I think Sonic Youth and Dino Jr are the only bands that got their catalogs back. Major label lawyers probably helped that!
Hate to hijack this but the question I want answered is, where are the masters to Husker Du and “Zen Arcade”?
Still with SST. I don’t know if the records will ever sound much better than the masters they’ve used for 35 years, though. It would be nice to get the WB albums reissued
I think Numero had plans to do a Zen Arcade box. They kinda teased it. But I’m guessing they couldn’t get the rights
Meat Puppets Too (II). But they had to remaster everything from old SST CDs because Ginn “couldn’t find” their master tapes
As much as I'd like this as well, I don't see this happening. This album is one of the most respected albums ever made. It's included consistently in best albums lists. Critics have praised it. But it's never sold many copies. To give you an idea of sales, I bought a 1990 pressing of the album in 2011. I bought it new. In over 20 years, that pressing went unsold. I love punk music, but by it's nature it's not mainstream. There are 55 tracks over 4 sides. The longest track 3:05 and most of them are closer to a minute. This a punk album that has a 0:40 cover of Van Halen's Ain't Talking 'bout Love. This album isn't for everyone.
Have been looking out for this myself and was surprised to see how scarce it is. The short tracks are actually part of what make me want it on vinyl so much — so often 2xLPs these days are 2-3 tracks per side that I like the idea of running through a whole bunch before I have to get up and flip the record over.
Ideally, it’d be cool to see Numero do it. They reissued pretty niche, rough material from Husker Du and White Zombie, and this record could probably sell on par with those sets.
More bands than just them have got their masters back from SST. It wouldn't be THAT hard to do if the rumors that Ginn doesn't pay proper royalties is true. In cases like that often the outcome of the legal case is that the band is given ownership of their masters in lieu of unpaid/underpaid royalties. IIRC that's why Green Day got ownership of their pre-Dookie material from IIRC Lookout Records. As for the Double Nickels album being OOP (assuming it is really OOP) that could possibly be due to an expanded remaster being released (expanded to include the tracks from the double vinyl version that were left off the CD due to time constraints). I read something on-line where Mike Watt (when describing how terrible he thought his own late 80s remix of the album was and how that's why that remixed version of the album is now OOP) mentioned that he either already spoke to or was going to speak to Greg Ginn about restoring the full original album onto a single CD since now the whole uncut original album can fit on one CD. Well officially it actually won't all fit on one CD, since Wikipedia has it at 81 minutes. Sure some CDs get released that break the "official redbook time limit" so they *could* risk doing it (I believe a waiver needs to be signed absolving the pressing plant of blame for any non-play issues deriving from including content so close to the outer edge of the disc). They could also minimize/eliminate all the gaps between songs and/or cut the Car Jams to be able to squeeze all the song content on in under 80 minutes. (They only need to trim a little over a minute for it to adhere to current redbook standard) Anyway Watt didn't say this WAS going to happen - only that he was having a word with Greg Ginn about possibly doing it.
I would be thrilled if there is some kind of reissue coming, I’m just very skeptical. Ginn hasn’t done anything to update or expand any of the classic records he’s got, so it’s tough to believe he’d start now. He jacked up the prices on SST releases. That’s about it.
God, LOOKOUT Records. Green Day’s lawsuit resulted in the entire label being liquidated. Incredibly bad business practices
IIRC the Savage Young Du box set was meant to be the first of three sets — I can’t recall if it actually says that in the liner notes, but I think it does? However, that ain’t ever gonna happen, sadly.
As per posted question: I hope not. Two years ago I bought a new copy from SST and compared it to the used one I bought in 1986; they were nearly identical. My copy was a bit more played, but they sounded the same. I imagine the newer ones are still AAA. I feel like the CD is lacking.: no Car Jam (which is a good reminder that we're done with the side), no "Little Man...." (which is different than the Buzz and Howl version), no VH cover (which I don't recognize as the song), and a couple other differences. I gave the newer copy to my sister... Not sure how to improve on the record. Maybe some outtakes which would probably be 5 minutes at most.
Especially when I was younger I really appreciated how SST (and Dischord) kept the same-old same-old records available and affordable essentially without interruption... the whole time when vinyl was supposedly dead. I definitely think there was definitely some room for upgrade in the sonics department (ex. the ORG Sonic Youth reissues or even the Geffen CD reissues, the Meat Puppets Ryko stuff, the Dinosaur Jr Merge CDs, etc) so I appreciate that too.
