I totally gave up on this a while back and don’t care if it comes out or not. I have plenty of SF vinyl so that will do me.
Great minds truly think alike, I guess. I feel the same way. Last summer, I bought the 2012 Immediate debut, 2016 Ogdens, 2014 colored Immediate Greatest Hits and even the noisy-but-still-nice-to-have "Autumn Stone" 7" (all mono, all analog), and I'm okay with that.
Caiger replied to an earlier tweet from Mojo magazine publicising their latest issue with an interview with Kenney Jones that ‘The forthcoming expanded and remastered The Autumn Stone will follow a similar first-to-last journey in photos and sound through the Small Faces career’. No clues as to when that might be though.
After the most recent expected release date of The Autumn Stone slipped by with no release (said to have been a month after the most recent Ogdens box reissue), Rob Caiger was asked on twitter if The Autumn Stone had indeed been abandoned, and he replied "No", it was definitely going to be released. He did not say when, or give any clues. The rumours on the street are: (1) it was held back because the Small Faces reissue campaign was going so well, the Ogdens reissue exceeded expectations, with the CD box, the multi-colour vinyl box, yada yada. Rumour (2) it will probably be held for its 50th anniversary, which will be November 2019. And that's pretty much all that we can hang our hats on for right now, so I'll cling to that till I hear something else...
Maybe they're waiting for a year when there isn't a multitude of other box sets coming out. Granted, I see 2019 as having plenty more (hopefully an Arthur, Autumn, and an Abbey in the mix).
Much as I'd like to see one, I wouldn't count on an Arthur box. The reason VGPS got the treatment was because it's considered The Kinks' masterpiece. Arthur isn't (though it's one of their best LPs). As you were...
Sad but true. Arthur is always the overlooked masterpiece in the Kinks catalogue. I always consider VGPS to be the demos, and Arthur to be the fully fleshed idea. Lots of the song subjects are the same, and both albums centre entirely around Britishness. VGPS is very soft and subtle, by Arthur is bold and brash. It's like Part One and Part Two of the same project. Back to the Small Faces, I've come to learn recently that more session tapes exist than previously thought, and the recent death of someone who used to hold onto them for dear life may have altered the projection of the Autumn Stone boxset. It's purely speculation, but perhaps the estate of the guy who had the tapes has reached an agreement with the SFs and Rob Caiger. According to Mr Caiger, Autumn Stone was finished and prepped almost a year ago now.
As far as any further prospective Kinks SDEs go, I think the most we might get treated to in the future is a Lola Vs Powerman set (two hit singles already on board), and even then only if we're extremely lucky. I only have it as part of the Immediate Box, so I can't comment on the individual release I'm afraid. The existence and availability of other material to include would be welcome, seeing as the meagre scrapings that appear to be on offer for The Autumn Stone seems to be material that's already been released elsewhere years ago (keeping 'Bun In The Oven' in mind, I strongly suspect that 'Olympic Jam' will turn out to be merely 'Take My Time' under another title, and it's more than likely that the version of 'Collibosher' that's on offer is the take minus the horn section that first saw release on the same Repertoire collection as 'Take My Time'). If I'm still alive I'll be very pleased if the eventual release of AS in 2029 (not a typo) proves otherwise, but I'm keeping my expectations realistically low. The addition of more material would be the only remotely acceptable excuse that remains for the ridiculous continued delays of this release. But let's not forget, Rob Caiger didn't include the 1968 BBC session on the latest Ogden's rehash purely because it seems he's deliberately holding it back for yet another cynical milking of the fans further down the road. This has been the latest in an ongoing series of six-monthly moans about the non-release of The Autumn Stone - see you all again in June!
Because there's almost an album's worth of exclusive material on it (the post-Ogden's sessions). Although granted those tracks have been compiled to death since. It's more that it's the last part of the original discography that hasn't yet been treated to a remix/remaster this millennium, and there's no denying that despite his other shortcomings, Caiger's work on the Immediate and Decca boxes has been excellent.
There was a German version and UK Export version called 'In Memoriam', which condensed the double LP set down to a single LP containing only new tracks and also the complete Live at Newcastle City Hall concert all in one piece. That was the original intention for the album. But as most of the new tracks were clearly unfinished, it morphed into a double LP greatest hits and oddities album. What people didn't know at the time, or indeed until very recently around the time of the 'Here Comes The Nice' boxset, was that the live concert was severely doctored, overdubbed and slowed down dramatically for reasons completely unknown. For the HCTN boxset, a clean pre-edit master tape of the 1968 concert was found and remastered. It was said with the new re-remaster of Autumn Stone, the remastered version would be compiled into it's original split form within the album, and also included as a complete uninterrupted track. The live version of 'All Or Nothing' was missing from AS, but present on the 'In Memoriam' album. Autumn Stone was last remastered by Castle Records in 1999, which is actually a very decent sounding remaster. Those late 1990s Castle remasters are still my go-to, as they capture a much hotter, warmer sound akin to the original LPs, over the recent 2012 remasters. Every other album in the SF's catalogue has been re-released and expanded since 1999, with the exception of Autumn Stone.
I guess I’m content with the HCTN and Decca boxes. If they release this with some newly found material, then I will buy it. Otherwise I’m done buying the same stuff over and over again.
Hey, enough with that defeatist attitude! This is the Hoffman Forums, buying the same stuff over and over again is what we do here!!
I haven't got the box so my question remains or, if you want me to rephrase, does it sound good as part of the HCTN box?
It sounds great to my ears - on the box the mono singles were newly-mixed (circa 2012-13) from mono masters. So if the standalone release uses those same sources, you're probably good to go.
Many thanks for the tip. Now on order. Is there a similar single disc available from the Decca Years box?
Unfortunately not - the box does include a 'best of' disc of A and B sides, but it wasn't released separately.
There really should’ve been a vinyl of the Decca As and Bs similar in vain to the Immediate one. Don’t know why they didn’t do it.
