Dark Horse Records Partners with BMG, Will Release New Recordings

Those Splinter CD's issued over the last 5 years or so are nothing but bad to average needle-drops. In no way were they legit releases taken from a master tape. So those are not going to fill the void of having the original Splinter albums on CD.

 

these weren't licensed legally through
Umlaut Corp / Harrison Estate?

2015 Licensed - Ganga Publishing B.V.



2015


2016

 

If they were I'd be shocked and even better why not use master tapes of some sort if they went through the trouble of getting a license to issue them and some cooperation from the Harrison estate. They look good, and might say they are licensed from Ganga Pub, but anyone can put that in print.
I have a few of those but they really don't sound that great as far as needle-drops go and some of the bonus tracks sound even worse. Just my opinion on the sound, but I really don't believe for a second they are legit CD's. If they were why were they not issued in the UK or the US and for that matter not even in Japan where they release a lot of titles not available elsewhere.

Let's just hope they get these titles out soon so we can really enjoy these albums sounding their best.

 

One of the compelling reasons to reissue Splinter's three Dark Horse albums is that George himself was heavily involved in their creation, not just as producer but also contributing guitar work to a number of songs. Two of the albums were recorded at George's Friar Park studio. George's archive may well contain not only the master tapes but also any out-takes and extra tracks recorded at the time. I like to think they're part of Dhani's 'mountain of tapes'.

 

I knew about “sheep”, “people” and other words, not about “vinyl”
Ok. Sorry about my Grammar mistake.

I always write in English, without any tricks like Google Translator, that’s why it happened

 

I really like these CDs.
Probably DH now will reissue them with bonus tracks, but until then I’m fine with these releases

 

Big Pink is a label that released several Jazz titles including these 3 Splinter albums debut on Compact Disc minus any Bonus material.

Grey Scale, a small label in UK released in 2017 the entire Splinter catalog (needledrops) with Extra material per album:




Now we wait for details on the plans from Dark Horse records!

 

I actually picked those CD's up. Never expecting them to be legit or from master tapes but just thinking I might get something better than my own needle-drops. They were a mixed bag, but the bonus tracks were nice to have. Even those I hoped for upgrades but they came up a little short from what I already had.
It's all ok, now we just have to hope they do get these albums out.

 

I even bought the Stairsteps and Keni Burke CDs.
I think they are even less official than the Splinter ones, but what the hell..

Grey Scale also released the last two Splinter albums on CD.

 

This got me looking at my Stairsteps cd. It's was put out in 2013 by a label called Solaris. The small print at the bottom of the cd disc is in (I think) Polish, suggesting its manufacturing origin. No acknowledgement anywhere of DHR involvement in the reissue.

 

So just to clarify, the Big Pink and Grey Scale releases for Splinter are two entirely different releases? For some reason I thought the GS was just a reissue of the BP in a different market or something.

I have the first 3 GS’s and thought the main album songs sounded pretty good. Some of the bonus tracks...namely single mixes...sounded like needle drops, but I thought the albums proper sounded about as good as most other CDs of the era.

Mark

 

No need to apologize. Your English seems quite good to me.

Your location clearly shows a non-native-English speaking country. People posting on an international board like this one should be savvy enough to pick up on things like that.

Thanks for sharing all the info.

Mark

 

Yeah. The BP CDs are very well done, in a mini-LP replica fashion, and I have to say, they sound and look great.

Later, GS also released "Streets At Night" (1979) with many bonus tracks and "Splinter" (1980), the two extra Dark Horse albums. Both essential.

 

I've got those, and while I am in doubt of their legitimacy license-wise, they sound remarkable - like a tape source was used! Flat transfers and no inner groove distortion to be heard on these or the other Solaris CDs I have (I collected a bunch of them due to the stellar sound quality).

I also have the original Dark Horse vinyl LPs of the Burke and Stairsteps albums, and the Solaris CDs run circles around them, IMO.

I am just speculating here, but could the Solaris group have stumbled upon/purchased tapes from defunct recording/mastering studios?

 

And just to compound the difficulties, there are other words in English which don't have singular forms, like 'scissors' and 'news'.

 

And now back to the music .... I'm wondering how Dark Horse will choose (if they ever do) to release the label's back catalogue. Beyond the easy option of digital only - already tried - they could opt for a large box set containing all the DHR releases. That would perhaps work as a cd set but would be very bulky and expensive as a vinyl set, perhaps too expensive for a niche item. The Splinter catalogue really needs its own DHR box set. There should be enough to fill 4-5 cd discs. The albums could be issued individually as expanded 2-disc sets, much in the way that the John Lennon Imagine box set was done, with a cd box/book and a separate 2-disc vinyl release.

 

That worked well for the Apple box set and I think DHR had fewer albums, so less expensive.

Mark

 

Splinter clearly deserve a box set on their own. Or two: one for their albums and a second one for the oddities/rarities.

George himself could have a 1974 US Tour deluxe edition box set , both audio and video: Dhani has mentioned the tapes and I'm sure it will all come together very well.

The other Dark Horse artists could be featured in double CD editions of each album.

Or maybe they'll follow the 2010 Apple box set pattern. Time will tell but one thing is sure: there's really some good potential here!

 

Haven’t been following this thread so forgive me if this has already been answered, but does DHR even still have the rights to the albums they originally put out? And I wonder how much enthusiasm there is on their part to physically release obscure albums from the 70’s by obscure artists that never made much of an impact, when they can make a bigger splash with new releases from much bigger names like Joe Strummer and of course Ravi Shankar, who they obviously have a deep affection for. I will be buying the Strummer set as I am a Clash fan but not too familiar with his solo stuff, and to support the new label (though part of me wonders what well- known punk rock fan George Harrison would think haha) and would gladly buy any other reissues of the original DH albums, especially since George was pretty involved with a good deal of it, or so I think. I just hope the label winds up being a little more ambitious, but expectations are lowered when dealing with the Harrison estate (but as always, I’m ready for them to prove me wrong!)

 

And to be precise, Big Pink released Henry McCullough's album, "Mind your Own Business", on CD as well.

 

2 more SPLINTER cd's released in japan on 24 FEBRUARY 2021 /

(STREETS AT NIGHT & SAIL AWAY ) w/ Bonus

Wasabi Records: Photo

Splinter

 

Nice! Their two post-Dark Horse albums with their original Japanese sleeves, not (as yet) listed on cdJapan.

 

I don’t really care about reissues of Stairsteps and Jiva, even though I own copies of their singles that I plucked from the 50 cent singles bins over the years because of the Dark Horse label. I do, however, wish that Dark Horse would go all in on a nice reissue of Splinter’s The Place I Love, an album that George was heavily, heavily involved in, to the point that it pretty clearly distracted George’s energies from his own Dark Horse (1974) album on Apple. I see The Place I Love as a quasi-George Harrison album, and the missing link between Living in the Material World and Dark Horse. I also think the Shankar Family and Friends album is another project that was dear to George’s heart, and wish they would do a stand-alone LP reissue of that. Beyond that, I don’t really care about the “other” artists on Dark Horse too much. I wish the new Dark Horse would re-release those two albums, and a box set of George’s 1974 tour. Those are the three projects I’d instantly pre-order if the new Dark Horse tackled them.

 

Splinter and George at Friar Park
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George Harrison - Dark Horse debut
(ABC-tv: Joel Seigel on Nov. 17, 1976)

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