Well, my Quit Dreaming box set is in the mail. Hoping tariff stupidity doesn’t inflate the price too much, or delay it unnecessarily. Usually Cherry Red stuff reaches me on the release date.
Mine landed Friday (UK) and as it was a belated Xmas and then belated birthday present I didn't actually know it was coming ahead of that date as I wasn't the one that ordered it - so a lovely Friday afternoon surprise. I am playing Disc 2 now as that is the one with the unreleased radio session (Piccadilly Radio) on it and the thing I'm keenest to hear. It is great to have this album in a new mix and in this deluxe packaging alongside the Be Bop and Red Noise releases from the past - what - 7 years? I hope we get a Love That Whirls one, and who knows maybe also Chimera - Savage Gestures at some point?
Received mine yesterday out here in California and it is amazing. Great packaging, love the poster but the Remixes on Disc 3 are ... wow. I mean I am hearing Bill's bass finally and every nuance of his textural guitar. I love this album.. always have. Here's my story about it.
I attended University in the UK in 1981... I was a young American who was a huge Be Bop Deluxe fan (and all things Canterbury Music/Prog). To be honest I hadn't heard anything from Bill since Red Noise had been released. A year earlier Bill had brought The Jam to open up for Be Bop Deluxe (Drastic Plastic Tour) and it CHANGED ME. It changed the way I experienced music. When I got off the plane May 15th 1981 I was walking in downtown Richmond Surrey and passed an Our Price record store. There, in the window was a poster, I was gobsmacked.. Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam and a new single, Do You Dream in Colour. I bought only the single right then and there because I hadn't received my allowance yet. I looked on the cover walking home... I followed a little arrow on the front to the back and up the side it said.. "A Young Man Should Not Make Safe Investments".... That BLEW ME AWAY.
I took it to my new dorm room in a faux 14th century castle like building that was old and musty but was to be my home for 4 years. I found a record player a few hours later and listened. I was so prepared for what I was hearing, Bill had prepared me for this sound.
So Disc 3.. Yes, this is the gem. Hearing clear beautiful versions of Dancing Music, The World and His Wife, Disposable (though I wish Steven would have turned up the ending Ian solo.. because Ian was someone I adored.,.,. just the most genuine person I have ever had the pleasure to meet) But it was interesting to hear Bill's little guitar riffs on the song.
Stand out remixes... Quit Dreaming is amazing.. but A Kind of Loving is really the Gem... that and The World and His Wife. Bill has said he hates the yipping and static mannered singing during this era but I'm going to be honest, it's one of my favorite parts.
Question for you all. Wasn't Shadowland a part of these sessions or is that later. I know it was an early Club release.
I just WISH that Disc Two had been remixed like Disc Three was.
100% worth the price of admission just like all the Be Bop Deluxe Boxed Set Esoteric Releases. I'd also like to say I have the utmost respect for Burning Shed as they have never failed me all the way over here in California.
Now... someone PLEASE tell me... Bill is making a nice stack of cash on every copy.. please. If I was a billionaire (I've told my wife this many times). My first Million goes to Bill to do whatever he pleases. He has meant that much to me for so long.
My friend who ordered it from another vendor in the UK from ImportCDs got it for $64, of which $2.99 was shipping. They shipped on Wednesday, he’ll have it on Monday.
Mine arrived Thursday. Somewhat baffled as to why the Blu-Ray is loose in its own sleeve. I can see the sleeve being more protective, but it’s just bizarre that this set, which has been “3 CDs and a Blu-Ray” since it was announced, only has three “slots” especially considering that the packaging was what held it up for six months.
My copy arrived this morning in Dublin. First impressions are that the sound on disc three is incredible. It brings out a clarity ie each instrument is cleanly heard and the effects become more effective. I'm loving it.
Wifey is out dancing this afternoon. Listening to the 5:1 version on a reasonable HiFi (remember those!). Brings back some wonderful memories of picking this album up complete with the "free" album all those years ago. Every track (maybe White Sound is a bit jarring as it wasn't on the original album in the UK) is a classic and is nicely presented on this disc. Sounds wonderful! Yes I have multiple copies of most of these tracks but still a worthwhile purchase I think. Decline and Fall remains a thing of musical and lyrical perfection. As I approach my 64th year the lyrics certainly hit a certain soft spot.
Re tariffs, there are no new ones related to UK > USA shipments under $800, so I don't anticipate delays.
Re the price tag, yes it's high, but I'm content. I expect the new remix of the multitrack material (disc 3) to bring a lot of space and definition to an album I've always found to be murky and compressed-sounding. The fact that "The World and His Wife" and "Dancing Music" are included among these remixes is exciting. I'm also thrilled that all additional tracks (for which there are apparently no original multi-tracks, disc 2) have finally been brought together with a single approach to remastering, so that we've finally got a sonically-matched set of all the extra material between Red Noise and "The Love That Whirls."
The radio sessions did appear on the giant "Practice of Daily Life" box (physical release), but I didn't get that, so I'm delighted to have them here, where they belong. That version of "Rooms with Brittle Views" is killer.
I don't need the remaster of the original mix (disc 1), which I assume will sound much like the previous, early-aughts one, and I have no way to play the surround-sound DVD (disc 4). I'm bummed that the multi-tracks of two songs from the album's mobile unit recording sessions with Leckie were apparently lost ("Atom Man" and "Mr. Magnetism") - so they won't quite match the rest of the sessions' material.
Nonetheless, this is much loved material for me, and I'm more than ready to flush my personal patchwork version of it, in favor of this tidy box with its big, informative booklet.
We'll see if my take holds true! I'm eager for a report from the first UK Nelsonian who receives it. I didn't buy all the remix BBD boxes, but the Red Noise one convinced me that I was all in for Quit Dreaming. I'm equally excited about the eventual Love That Whirls box, which should similarly gather up a slew of tracks that currently have to be cobbled together from many sources.
Based on the idea that the QDAGOTB set at last actually exists and might even be being mailed out, I have just ordered and paid for one.
But now I have done, I'm suddenly very aware that the set isn't actually good value for money. Three CDs (and a blu-ray that just repeats one of the CDs) in a big box for £60 !! There seems to be just three songs on there that I don't already have elsewhere on CD.
Sorry to be negative, but aren't we being asked a lot for some smart repackaging here?
More than three tracks, surely - the radio sessions haven’t previously appeared, have they?
Buying direct from Cherry Red is never cheap, particularly if you’re not in the UK. In the US it cost £58 for the set and £15 for shipping, for a $97 purchase. However, a friend who ordered elsewhere paid $63 including shipping. He’ll get it a week or two after me, but save a bunch.
Haven’t all the BBD/Red Noise boxes been about the same ( Live In The Air Age excepted)? The only others I bought directly were Sound On Sound and Drastic Plastic - I picked up Futurama and Sunburst Finish long after release through cheap eBay vendors, and I got Axe Victim and Modern Music in weird mutant digital download versions from Qobuz - $18 each for the contents of the CDs, no DVD content. If they do another batch of Modern Music boxes, I’ll definitely go for that, but only if Trumpolini/Il Douche/The Tangerine Baboon at least restores some reasonable de minimis to avoid tariffs on small purchases.
I do see what you mean about new recordings (the sessions) but even then we're just getting alternative versions of known songs. I just meant that only After Life, Boom Year Ahead and Art Of Vision are 'new' songs. (Possibly 'Jazz' as well, but I've got a copy of that somewhere... from somewhere?).
Listening to Bill's new releases, we at least know we're getting fresh songs to learn and hum to ourselves later!
...And that is despite the early- and mid-80s stuff usually including my favourites.
I’ll certainly try, but while I’ve had some titles arrive 2-3 days before release (advantage of being 75 miles from Chicago O’Hare and the ludicrously over-centralized international mail in the UK these days) it remains to be seen how much processing of tariffs will slow down customs and how they’ll handle paying tariffs. I may end up getting my set long after everyone else.
Mine landed Friday (UK) and as it was a belated Xmas and then belated birthday present I didn't actually know it was coming ahead of that date as I wasn't the one that ordered it - so a lovely Friday afternoon surprise. I am playing Disc 2 now as that is the one with the unreleased radio session (Piccadilly Radio) on it and the thing I'm keenest to hear. It is great to have this album in a new mix and in this deluxe packaging alongside the Be Bop and Red Noise releases from the past - what - 7 years? I hope we get a Love That Whirls one, and who knows maybe also Chimera - Savage Gestures at some point?
It’s ALIVE!!!
Received mine yesterday out here in California and it is amazing. Great packaging, love the poster but the Remixes on Disc 3 are ... wow. I mean I am hearing Bill's bass finally and every nuance of his textural guitar. I love this album.. always have. Here's my story about it.
I attended University in the UK in 1981... I was a young American who was a huge Be Bop Deluxe fan (and all things Canterbury Music/Prog). To be honest I hadn't heard anything from Bill since Red Noise had been released. A year earlier Bill had brought The Jam to open up for Be Bop Deluxe (Drastic Plastic Tour) and it CHANGED ME. It changed the way I experienced music. When I got off the plane May 15th 1981 I was walking in downtown Richmond Surrey and passed an Our Price record store. There, in the window was a poster, I was gobsmacked.. Quit Dreaming and Get on the Beam and a new single, Do You Dream in Colour. I bought only the single right then and there because I hadn't received my allowance yet. I looked on the cover walking home... I followed a little arrow on the front to the back and up the side it said.. "A Young Man Should Not Make Safe Investments".... That BLEW ME AWAY.
I took it to my new dorm room in a faux 14th century castle like building that was old and musty but was to be my home for 4 years. I found a record player a few hours later and listened. I was so prepared for what I was hearing, Bill had prepared me for this sound.
So Disc 3.. Yes, this is the gem. Hearing clear beautiful versions of Dancing Music, The World and His Wife, Disposable (though I wish Steven would have turned up the ending Ian solo.. because Ian was someone I adored.,.,. just the most genuine person I have ever had the pleasure to meet) But it was interesting to hear Bill's little guitar riffs on the song.
Stand out remixes... Quit Dreaming is amazing.. but A Kind of Loving is really the Gem... that and The World and His Wife. Bill has said he hates the yipping and static mannered singing during this era but I'm going to be honest, it's one of my favorite parts.
Question for you all. Wasn't Shadowland a part of these sessions or is that later. I know it was an early Club release.
I just WISH that Disc Two had been remixed like Disc Three was.
100% worth the price of admission just like all the Be Bop Deluxe Boxed Set Esoteric Releases. I'd also like to say I have the utmost respect for Burning Shed as they have never failed me all the way over here in California.
Now... someone PLEASE tell me... Bill is making a nice stack of cash on every copy.. please. If I was a billionaire (I've told my wife this many times). My first Million goes to Bill to do whatever he pleases. He has meant that much to me for so long.
Thanks all.
Listening Now. So far so good. I'm hearing sounds I've never heard before! Just disc 1-3 so far. Disc 4 to work on tomorrow.
Mine came yesterday. Not opened yet; saving it for Sunday when I can rip it and get it on my server for playing the sane evening
https://www.deepdiscount.com/
This is a great place to pick up new box sets and other imports at a reasonable price…just saying!!!
Dream Ships Set Sail ☁️ 🛳️
My copy arrived this morning in Dublin. First impressions are that the sound on disc three is incredible. It brings out a clarity ie each instrument is cleanly heard and the effects become more effective. I'm loving it.
Arrived in deepest Dorset yesterday.
Re tariffs, there are no new ones related to UK > USA shipments under $800, so I don't anticipate delays.
Re the price tag, yes it's high, but I'm content. I expect the new remix of the multitrack material (disc 3) to bring a lot of space and definition to an album I've always found to be murky and compressed-sounding. The fact that "The World and His Wife" and "Dancing Music" are included among these remixes is exciting. I'm also thrilled that all additional tracks (for which there are apparently no original multi-tracks, disc 2) have finally been brought together with a single approach to remastering, so that we've finally got a sonically-matched set of all the extra material between Red Noise and "The Love That Whirls."
The radio sessions did appear on the giant "Practice of Daily Life" box (physical release), but I didn't get that, so I'm delighted to have them here, where they belong. That version of "Rooms with Brittle Views" is killer.
I don't need the remaster of the original mix (disc 1), which I assume will sound much like the previous, early-aughts one, and I have no way to play the surround-sound DVD (disc 4). I'm bummed that the multi-tracks of two songs from the album's mobile unit recording sessions with Leckie were apparently lost ("Atom Man" and "Mr. Magnetism") - so they won't quite match the rest of the sessions' material.
Nonetheless, this is much loved material for me, and I'm more than ready to flush my personal patchwork version of it, in favor of this tidy box with its big, informative booklet.
I got an email.
Maybe now I should take down my Christmas decorations (lights in the front window). Merry Christmas to me - 2024. 🎅
Based on the idea that the QDAGOTB set at last actually exists and might even be being mailed out, I have just ordered and paid for one.
But now I have done, I'm suddenly very aware that the set isn't actually good value for money. Three CDs (and a blu-ray that just repeats one of the CDs) in a big box for £60 !! There seems to be just three songs on there that I don't already have elsewhere on CD.
Sorry to be negative, but aren't we being asked a lot for some smart repackaging here?
Expecting a report then arwc especially if us in the U.K. haven’t had it before you…🤷♂️