David Bowie: Five Years 1969-1973 - 2015 12CD or 13 Vinyl Box Set

Not to take the thread off track, but what exactly is the ownership situation of the Bowie catalog? It was my understanding he owned the publishing and the rights to the majority of his work but that it was then licensed out to Parlaphone for the box sets. I seem to remember reading that he had designated a small group to run the business after he passed so his family would not have to deal with anything other than cashing checks.

 

"Sold his rights in the 90s" in the parent post may be referring to the Bowie Bonds - a scheme which (according to the Dylan Jones book) PREVENTED having to sell off the seed corn of his masters, which DB allegedly did not want to do. What the bonds pledged was a return on investment based on DB surrendering royalty payments for a fixed period.

It was tersely reported after his death that DB had finally negotiated a deal to rid himself forever of all entanglements with DeFries/MainMan at some point in the 90s. No story I found was big on detail. I imagine that included reclaiming (for a price) whatever DeFries' ownership stake was in the recordings and publishing - numbers I've never seen.

Parlophone in the USA is the result of a bunch of corporate twists and turns that resulted from the dissolution of EMI at the hands of Guy Hands. I don't think there was ever a "Parlophone deal" per se, but a "Warners deal" for the last hot minute it existed. Read the whole sad EMI tale here, name changes and all:

EMI - Wikipedia

 

Thanks @TonyCzar. I had seen this article David Bowie, Businessman: A Deep Dive Into The Musician's Visionary Dealmaking on the Defries/MainMan deal but like you said, no specifics on a dollar amount were provided. Wouldn't be shocked if Bowie demanded some kind of non-disclosure in the agreement. Of course, Defries takes credit for the idea of Bowie Bonds over on his LinkedIn page. Guess I need to give that Dylan Jones biography a read.

 

DeFries is one of those legendary (not in a good way) music biz sharks who magically end up owning more than a trivial piece of their clients' work.

Unlike the Stones, who are still joined at the hip to Allen Klein's ABKCO, which owns their recordings and publishing from the DECCA/London years outright, Bowie was able to eventually pay what it took to break free. (Probably because DeFries was one man and didn't think his cut of the the future earnings would hold the kind of cash Bowie was putting on the table ... until after everyone was dead. For Bowie's part, he probably spent a lot, but he had the comfort of knowing his family would never have to deal with DeFries on anything.)

But also like Klein, DeFries imparted expensive and valuable lessons about licensing and publishing; and he got DB out of the even worse deal he was in at the time, and he nabbed ownership of those 1st 2 albums from Mercury (including "Space Oddity") outright which had already been released.

Frankly, the "Bowie Bonds" idea, as out of left-field as it was, strikes me as something which could be from DeFries' strange brain. The narration for how the deal came about is a little too "magical" in the Dylan Jones book. Reads like Mickey and Judy putting a show on in the old barn. Clicking on the article you cited, I see that the break from DeFries and the Bowie Bonds deal were the same year. If that's true, I actually would not be surprised if the idea was originated or refined by DeFries (who apparently no longer feels bound to any non-disclosure agreement, if he's posting about it on LinkedIn).

 

All of the limited/special/deluxe/anniversary editions make it very hard on a fan to keep up because they do go out of print, and then are expensive to go back and get. The proliferation of rereleases also makes them less special because none of them seem definitive or complete. There’s always a new one coming with a different mastering and selection of bonuses. I wish they would try to do stand alone 2-3 cd definitive editions, that collect all mixes, edits and bonus tracks and keep them in print. Live releases can stand separate from their studio counterparts. My ideal is the King Crimson / Xtc approach - a blu Ray with all original mixes, remixes and 5.1. Every time I get my hands on something new I add it my own definitive edition comp for each album. Every release that comes out has it highlights, virtues unique bonuses, but non to date a definitive, career/label spanning or all inclusive (Deram, Tin Machine, early singles, all 12” and single mixes). I would think it’s possible.

 

The point isn’t that people can’t criticize them, the point is that some people don’t understand the difference between and opinion and fact, and attack people that haven’t listened to Bowie 937492947365837363 times in the past 50 years.

Disagreement and critical is fine. Attacking someone with a diffeeent opinion, or who is just looking for some help is just plain childish

 

As I mentioned above, nothing is wrong with personal preference, at all. It’s when people who admittedly don’t listen as much, or are more of a casual fan, or haven’t listened to Bowie 9 billion times come to ask for some advice and that advice turns into condescending judgement and blatant attacks for zero reason.

 

Im in the same Boat.I have played each record in all the box sets a number of times.If in the next 30 years I have worn out some of the records I have a spare box set to play.Like you I have Originals, Japanese ,Ryco clear etc which also get played from time to time.If you dont need the Box Sets dont buy them simple.And all the old farts who have the original first pressings I would expect they are either worn out by now or destined for hard rubbish day when you pass away.Dont forget the NEW young Bowie fans who will enjoy the Box set music for the first time.......

 

My old originals sound fantastic.. never giving them up.

 

The original 1e/1e and 2e/1e UK RCA pressings of Ziggy are 'mud city' - they can hardly be referred to as 'vibrant' - smooth sounding but pretty veiled.

The later 6e/4e however is a great cut - and to be fair, the 2012 re-issue cut is AAA and gets you most of the way there, it's a shame they didn't apply the same care to the rest of the catalogue.

 

I partially agree, but all those releases you mention had some extra music included - tracks or DVD surround - even a reissue of an expensive RCA cd. That is different from Parlophone releasing limited edition coloured vinyl vanilla albums which are the same remasters that have been put out two years ago in the box or as a cheap separate black vinyl issues. Give us something extra at least - even if it is just the one previously unavailable track bait so beloved by the record industry.
For heaven's sake there must be so much unheard stuff, be it alt takes or working versions like the Rykos did (I'm thinking like the Lady Stardust demo for instance). There are so many bootlegs. Parlophone love to exploit an artist's catalogue, but conversely they're losing money to bootleggers and if others feel like me they're losing respect and trust. Only recently I bought The Trident Tapes on a pink vinyl bootleg. It sounds great, and those sessions are from the Hunky Dory/Ziggy era - they could have been put out officially (on gold vinyl if they insisted). I have no intention of buying gold or silver copies of the same recordings I have in the Five years box, EMI cds, Ryko cds and orange label RCA UK records. I did buy the Black Tie triple, and all the anniversary editions from EMI for the extras.

 

Fair enough. Can you suggest a forum on the internet where enthusiasts can discuss the fine details of mastering and track selection choices?

Tim

 

For the Ziggy Gold vinyl, Parlophone used the Ziggy which has the error in Star and they knew about over a year before issuing the gold version. Parlophone are a plague. Amazon took that off sale a few times and Parlophone have just kept putting the same error back into stores. They are a disgrace and border on a con merchant.

 

But it's AAA, therefore your complaint is irrelevant here!

 

Irrelevant at Parlophone too...

 

They do seem to want to concentrate on superficiality but don't seem to be too interested in quality control on the remasters.
Was it a jump on Star particular to the gold vinyl?

 

??

Why do they need advice from here when they “don’t listen as much” and are “more of a casual fan”?

If I fancy an album by someone on those terms, I just buy it, listen to it, keep it, or return it. The end.

 

It is on the version released on black when the main albums were issued stand alone. David Bowie - The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars that one, and then David Bowie - The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars has the same problem. Most seem to miss it as they are not really listening but using it as background. I asked one guy who was praising the sound and quality on REDDIT to go back and listen on Star and low and behold his "utterly fantastic" copy was faulty too.

 

That is strange though - I thought it was the same stamper as the earlier 40th with the surround sound DVD. How could it be different?

 

I have 70's rca, etc

My first UK is stunning
Then again it was cleaned on my KLaudio ultrasonic record cleaner

 

It beggars belief really, like the 'God land' error on SO it just shows how little they actually care about the end product.

 

What's supposed to be the problem with it? I've listened several times under headphones but don't hear any issues.

 

Many copies have jumps on Star and some other but more minor issues. The Star errors are in the same places. Parlophone have introduced the same problem into many of the gold versions too.

 

At some point, it might be healthier to just think of things like the 7" picture discs as tchotchkes, like a "Tonight" coffee mug from a museum gift shop. Recordings as merch.

But yes, I agree that the quality control should be better than it is on the record of record for some of his core albums.

 

Thanks for the explanation. I own both the black and the gold versions and there's definitely no jumps on either of my copies. The black vinyl however, (and I went through 3 copies all with the same problems in the exact same places) does have several repeating loud clicks and pops on Star as well as few of the other tracks, which is why I bought the gold vinyl. Thankfully that one is near flawless.

As the owner of far too many visibly pristine but terrible sounding Optimal pressed discs, I can only agree about the lack of quality control from both them and Parlophone in general. It sometimes seems to me to be all about looks and presentation rather than the actual content these days. Shove it in a nice shiny box and rake in the cash, job done. Nobody actually still plays these things anyway, do they? They just buy them to look at surely. /rant.