New box set ('Collected Recording:1983-1989') by Lloyd Cole & The Commotions

I don't believe it ever dropped; I kept a pretty close eye on this and never saw it lower than the price you paid.

I can't wait to get mine--these guys were brilliant. Enjoy!

 

Thanks. I didn't think it had either but I was being hopeful as I didn't keep a close watch. It's probably a bit too much of a niche item to be discounted... Yet!

 

It sure I understand what you mean - can you elaborate?

 

"Mainstream". Can't wait to hear this remaster.

 

There is an interview on superdeluxeedition.com
http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/interview/lloyd-cole-on-new-commotions-box/

Here's the relevant quote:
SDE: Why did the Rattlesnakes outtake Beautiful City not earn a place here?

LC: Because it’s on the 2004 Rattlesnakes 2 CD set. That isn’t deleted and I’m working towards remastering it, to bring it in line with this set.

 

Gotcha. I agree that's not too cool...

 

They never dropped the price, sadly. Cancelled my pre-order last week in favour of getting it from Amazon.it.

I'll have to wait a few days longer before I hold it in my hands but couldn't argue with their price (£42 shipped to the UK). They're still offering it for not much more than that if anyone's yet to pull the trigger...

 

Anyone experiencing problems with the Rattlesnakes disc?

Mine has a small scratch near the centre

One CD player says "no disc"
The second says "encoding error"
The third plays 20 seconds of Perfect Skin and then stops.

This shouldn't happen with new items. Have emailed Amazon UK and asked them to send a replacement disc but I presume they will insist on me sending back the whole set....

 

That's pretty annoying considering the price of that set. They should be gold plated and play without a hitch!

 

Haven't received mine yet from Amazon Canada. I think they are releasing it the same week as the U.S. Version. Hopefully there won't be problems with the set once I get it.

I have an issue with Lloyd not Putting "Beautiful City" on this set. This should be the complete set with everything.

 

Amazon have dispatched a replacement set this morning.

They want me to return the one with the damaged Rattlesnakes within 30 days. Otherwise I will be charged again. I get a free postage label so hopefully it won't go astray when posting it back.

 

AGREED!

 

Well it's a pretty darn terrific set. High quality packaging, great music, very good remasters. Thanks Lloyd!

 

Nice dynamic mastering, no weird funky stuff done to the recordings. Handsomely package. I have to gice Cole credit for putting together a great set. I half expected some trinkets like a miniature golf club or something but it's all pretty useful stuff or nice to have. The cardboard sleeves are higher quality as well with inner cardboard sleeves. Wonder if the Japanese version has nice Mofi style sleeves. Anyone know?

 

Mainstream does not appear to have been remastered. Ian Jones, Abbey Road and 2015 are mentioned for the previous two original albums but the third is the original Ludwig mastering(?) according to the liner notes. Not a complaint, as it always sounded good to me, just an observation.

 

According to a post that Lloyd Cole did at Super Deluxe Editions:

We began work on this in February 2014. It’s been a lot of work. There were two product managers. Joe Howard (son of Dr Robert Howard) initiated the project and then moved on. Lewis Robinson took his place. Lewis and I have exchanged hundreds of emails as we tracked down the original tapes, cassettes, u-matics, and Ian Jones at Abbey Road has done a fabulous job in transferring them to CD.

All three studio albums are included, all three are re-mastered, but we did very little to Mainstream other than adjust level. Bob Ludwig’s original work was near perfect and still sounds great almost 30 years later. The original 1/2″ mixdowns of Easy Pieces could not be used as the tape had disintegrated and baking, etc could not save it. We worked from the 1/4″ back up (made the same day as the 1/2″ for this very reason) and to my ears the album is significantly improved. The big news, to my ears, is Rattlesnakes. We were able to use the original 1/2″ tapes and upon hearing a ‘flat transfer’ I was shocked at how far we had strayed from the original recordings over the years. I sent the files to the band to listen to to be sure I wasn’t imagining things. Is this as great as I think it is? They agreed. We decided to make the new CD as close as possible to the original tapes. The trade off would be volume. If we wanted the album to sound loud, then we would lose the dynamics which were what was making it sound better. We chose the sound over the loudness. You have a volume control on your stereo. You can turn it up if you need to.

The first bonus CD is all our collected b-sides, not including live recordings, unless they were songs we hadn’t recorded in the studio – so the 1986 recordings from New York are there. The only remix included is our own extended mix of My Bag, as we all pretty much agreed it was the only decent dance mix we ever made.

The final CD is rarities, from the unreleased 1983 single Down At The Mission, the 1985 Paul Hardiman recordings, the 1986 Paris recordings with Chris Thomas, demos, etc. Pretty much everything we recorded which wasn’t a complete disaster is here. Full track listing below.

The book contains an extensive essay by Pete Paphides, who spent way more time and wrote many more words than was originally the plan. He spoke to all the protagonists. It’s a lovely story, if a little sad, at times.

 

Thanks. I hadn't seen all this. Have just listened to Rattlesnakes and it does sound deluxe indeed. Easy Pieces is less tinny than my old CD too.

 

all right. I'm in.

 

It's a cool set. More substance than most and the book is about 38 pages or so hard bound and quite nice. I sent Cole a message to find out what else we might be getting on the deluxe Rattlesnakes when he works on it. I suggested a vintage live CD or DVD show.

 

Yeah I agree. I know that he and the band feel their two follow up albums are lesser works but I feel Mainstream is almost as strong as the debut and that a Easy Pieces although flawed has some killer songs on it.

The new EP clearly was drawn from a better tape source than the original CD. Too bad the original tapes have disintegrated.

 

Have you heard that there is going to be a Japanese pressing of this?

 

No, I havent. I was curious if those being sold in Japan were just the European versions.

http://tower.jp/item/3915242/Collected-Recordings-1983-1989-[5CD＋DVD]＜初回生産限定盤＞

 

Let's hope it is [going] to be pressed in Japan...but I somehow doubt it, unfortunately!?

 

As luck would have it, I am just putting the finishing touches on a killer 80s playlist and need to plug in some holes, Lloyd Cole being one, so this is a good excuse timing-wise.

I've always appreciated him but, for whatever reason, have only had a single disc comp (the one with cool empty pool cover - which is long gone somehow), Love Story and Weird - all of which are loaded with killer tunes.

Very glad to hear it's a nice sounding set - he is the type of musician excessive compression would just ruin.

 

No vinyl release for this?