SoulConservator said:

kitbradley said:

I've been in contact with soulmusic.com and they are assuring everyone they are working on repressing the CD using better masters, which will be availalbe shortly. No, the original album gatefold was not included in the CD booklet, which was really surprising to me.

It wouldn't be cheap to have to repress either. Particularly for a small label like that. It's disastrous but a credit to SMR that they're at least trying to make it right. Too bad they didn't pick up on the issues before it was given the go ahead to press!

Actually they have their stuff distributed via Caroline/UMG

upcoming SoulMusic Records (SMR) reissue of music by Ray Parker Jr. - the albums Woman Out Of Control and Sex And The Single Man, with great notes by Kevin Goins!

SoulConservator said:

kitbradley said:

I've been in contact with soulmusic.com and they are assuring everyone they are working on repressing the CD using better masters, which will be availalbe shortly. No, the original album gatefold was not included in the CD booklet, which was really surprising to me.

It wouldn't be cheap to have to repress either. Particularly for a small label like that. It's disastrous but a credit to SMR that they're at least trying to make it right. Too bad they didn't pick up on the issues before it was given the go ahead to press!

Im really surprised they released the CD using poor quality masters. They should have just delayed it until they were able to get better masters for all of the songs.

The same thing happened with their Alicia Myers reissue a few years ago. Some of the songs sounded terrible. But, I heard some stories from someone in the industry that some of Alicia's masters are in really bad shape. I don't know if this still holds true but Universal did not have access to all of Alicia's master tapes but Kevin McCord does and he, for whatever reason, had chosen not to share them. I guess maybe that's the reason why "I Fooled You This Time" and "I Appreciate" have yet to receive proper CD or digital reissues.

kitbradley said:

SoulConservator said:

It wouldn't be cheap to have to repress either. Particularly for a small label like that. It's disastrous but a credit to SMR that they're at least trying to make it right. Too bad they didn't pick up on the issues before it was given the go ahead to press!

Im really surprised they released the CD using poor quality masters. They should have just delayed it until they were able to get better masters for all of the songs.

The same thing happened with their Alicia Myers reissue a few years ago. Some of the songs sounded terrible. But, I heard some stories from someone in the industry that some of Alicia's masters are in really bad shape. I don't know if this still holds true but Universal did not have access to all of Alicia's master tapes but Kevin McCord does and he, for whatever reason, had chosen not to share them. I guess maybe that's the reason why "I Fooled You This Time" and "I Appreciate" have yet to receive proper CD or digital reissues.

The issue of master tapes is a complex one. Many of these albums are over 30 years old and the labels they were originally released on have either folded or been absorbed by larger companies. Stephanie's album came out on Casablanca after the label had been bought by Polygram. Polygram became Universal in 1999 and many other labels were also acquired. Imagine the task of trying to consolidate all of that.

I know the CD you're referring to Kit - Alicia Myers' "Alicia Again" album. That along with SMR's reissue of Junior's "Ji" were criticized for not sounding great. I didn't end up purchasing either CD because of the reviews. I remember the response at the time was that master tapes fron Universal's UK library had been used, the same place the Stephanie Mills tapes were sourced from. These would be the same tapes used to produce the UK vinyl releases of these albums all the way back in the early 80s. It's a common miconception that if a master tape is used there will always be a good result. Who knows where those tapes have been or how they have been stored over the last 30+ years. Maybe the Universal UK library has a storage issue or maybe whoever is baking these tapes before they're transferred is dropping the ball. Who knows, it's all speculation.

Kevin McCord may well have copies of the master tapes of Alicia Myers' albums but he doesn't actually own the rights to them. They came out on MCA which was a major label prior to it becoming a part of Universal. Master copies would have been sent to every territory that Alicia's albums were released in so I'd be surprised if he has the only viable tapes. It's one thing for a 3rd party label like SMR to get the rights to an album but quite another to have the resources or contacts to search world wide for master tapes to be used for a CD that may sell under 1000 copies though. They used the tapes that they had access to in the UK. That's not to say that there shouldn't have been some quality control. For example, I think two of the three tracks that are reported to sound bad on the Stephanie album have appeared on other compilation CDs that could have been used instead.

Despite the issues, we really are lucky that these albums are still being made available again in 2015, in a format that is fast becoming obsolete.

I bought the Stephanie Mills album and returned it to Amazon because of the terrible sound quality on 3 tracks (the rest sounded OK, but not great, the iTunes album has the same issue). SMR release two cd's or so a month, they must not like their product much if they don't want or don't have the time to listen to it before approving it to be pressed!

Anyway, I am glad there will be a repress, but Amazon is still selling the old version, so how can you know you'll be getting the corrected version when you order?

BTW, I have just read catalogue cd releases outsell current cd releases, so there still is money to be made in the reissue market if done properly.

whitesockedfunk said:

I bought the Stephanie Mills album and returned it to Amazon because of the terrible sound quality on 3 tracks (the rest sounded OK, but not great, the iTunes album has the same issue). SMR release two cd's or so a month, they must not like their product much if they don't want or don't have the time to listen to it before approving it to be pressed!

Anyway, I am glad there will be a repress, but Amazon is still selling the old version, so how can you know you'll be getting the corrected version when you order?

BTW, I have just read catalogue cd releases outsell current cd releases, so there still is money to be made in the reissue market if done properly.

Knowing which pressing I would be getting is my concern also. Maybe buying from SMR direct will be the way to go once they announce the repress?

Which catalogue CD releases outsell current albums? I'd be interested to read that article! I've heard before that reissues, at least in terms of soul and R&B, are considered a success if they can move over 1,000 copies and some can sell as few as a couple of hundred depending on who the artist is.

getxxxx said:

upcoming SoulMusic Records (SMR) reissue of music by Ray Parker Jr. - the albums Woman Out Of Control and Sex And The Single Man, with great notes by Kevin Goins!

I wish they would remaster his 1987 album After Dark.It's much better than those two albums.

SoulAlive said:

getxxxx said:

upcoming SoulMusic Records (SMR) reissue of music by Ray Parker Jr. - the albums Woman Out Of Control and Sex And The Single Man, with great notes by Kevin Goins!

I wish they would remaster his 1987 album After Dark.It's much better than those two albums.

Purpose Music Vaults announced a couple of years ago that they were reissuing that one but it is yet to materialize. There is a comment from the label on their FB page from March 2014 stating that it's on official delay and that there will be a date announced when they know they can stick to it. You might want to contact them directly and see if it's still in the pipeline.

SoulConservator said:

SoulAlive said:

I wish they would remaster his 1987 album After Dark.It's much better than those two albums.

Purpose Music Vaults announced a couple of years ago that they were reissuing that one but it is yet to materialize. There is a comment from the label on their FB page from March 2014 stating that it's on official delay and that there will be a date announced when they know they can stick to it. You might want to contact them directly and see if it's still in the pipeline.

thanks for the info

SoulConservator said:

whitesockedfunk said:

I bought the Stephanie Mills album and returned it to Amazon because of the terrible sound quality on 3 tracks (the rest sounded OK, but not great, the iTunes album has the same issue). SMR release two cd's or so a month, they must not like their product much if they don't want or don't have the time to listen to it before approving it to be pressed!

Anyway, I am glad there will be a repress, but Amazon is still selling the old version, so how can you know you'll be getting the corrected version when you order?

BTW, I have just read catalogue cd releases outsell current cd releases, so there still is money to be made in the reissue market if done properly.

Knowing which pressing I would be getting is my concern also. Maybe buying from SMR direct will be the way to go once they announce the repress?

Which catalogue CD releases outsell current albums? I'd be interested to read that article! I've heard before that reissues, at least in terms of soul and R&B, are considered a success if they can move over 1,000 copies and some can sell as few as a couple of hundred depending on who the artist is.

Same thing happened whenh FTG released Aretha's "Who's Zoomin Who". The first press had most of the bonus tracks as vinyl rips. They claimed it was a mistake and they ended up re-releasing the CD a few weeks later with the cleaner tracks. It was re-released with a different catalog number. I'm assuming the same will happen with the Stephanie CD so that's how you will tell the difference.

Anyway, email soulmusic.com directly. That's what I did. They asked that I provide proof of purchase and they will ship me a replacement Stephanie CD once they do the repress, which they said would be in a few weeks.

SoulAlive said:

SoulConservator said:

Purpose Music Vaults announced a couple of years ago that they were reissuing that one but it is yet to materialize. There is a comment from the label on their FB page from March 2014 stating that it's on official delay and that there will be a date announced when they know they can stick to it. You might want to contact them directly and see if it's still in the pipeline.

thanks for the info

I don't think PMV are still in business, though. They had a few releases that were very difficult to get and then nothing...

SoulConservator said:

Which catalogue CD releases outsell current albums? I'd be interested to read that article! I've heard before that reissues, at least in terms of soul and R&B, are considered a success if they can move over 1,000 copies and some can sell as few as a couple of hundred depending on who the artist is.

http://www.musicbusinessw...n-america/ There you go!

Released on the 19th of August from Warner Japan - the first time on CD for Ren Woods' 1981 "Azz Izz" album originally released on Elektra and including Prince's "I Don't Wanna Stop":

Who's Gonna Love Me Now
Hire Love
Take Me To Heaven
Lovin' Power
If You Come With Me (I Can Show You Love)
You Are The One
Never In My Life
I Don't Wanna Stop

Unfortunately there's no bonus tracks. It would have been nice to have at least one of the three versions of the non-album 1982 single "Get It Right" but it will be enough just to have this rare album.

SoulConservator said:

Released on the 19th of August from Warner Japan - the first time on CD for Ren Woods' 1981 "Azz Izz" album originally released on Elektra and including Prince's "I Don't Wanna Stop":

Who's Gonna Love Me Now
Hire Love
Take Me To Heaven
Lovin' Power
If You Come With Me (I Can Show You Love)
You Are The One
Never In My Life
I Don't Wanna Stop

Unfortunately there's no bonus tracks. It would have been nice to have at least one of the three versions of the non-album 1982 single "Get It Right" but it will be enough just to have this rare album.

I Don't Wanna Stop

The song was removed from later pressings of the album at Prince's request, although no reason has been given. So will that be on that pressing?

getxxxx said:

SoulConservator said:

Released on the 19th of August from Warner Japan - the first time on CD for Ren Woods' 1981 "Azz Izz" album originally released on Elektra and including Prince's "I Don't Wanna Stop":

Who's Gonna Love Me Now
Hire Love
Take Me To Heaven
Lovin' Power
If You Come With Me (I Can Show You Love)
You Are The One
Never In My Life
I Don't Wanna Stop

Unfortunately there's no bonus tracks. It would have been nice to have at least one of the three versions of the non-album 1982 single "Get It Right" but it will be enough just to have this rare album.

I Don't Wanna Stop

The song was removed from later pressings of the album at Prince's request, although no reason has been given. So will that be on that pressing?

.

According to HMV Japan it's on there (8 tracks are listed and if you do a page translation you can see "I Don't Wanna Stop"):

.

http://www.hmv.co.jp/arti...mt_6359203

.

And CDJapan:

.

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/...WPCR-28690

[Edited 7/11/15 22:14pm]

MickyDolenz said:

Release: August 21, 2015

The Isley Brothers: The RCA Victor and T-Neck Album Masters (1959-1983), a monumental 23-disc box set collection chronicling the sonic evolution and abiding achievements of the unprecedented R&B ensemble, The Isley Brothers. This box set follows The Isley Brothers through their transformation from a 1950's doo-wop/gospel vocal group into the world's preeminent R&B rock 'n' soul powerhouse party band.

The RCA Victor and T-Neck Album Masters (1959-1983) features newly remastered versions of The Isley Brothers' 21 albums, nearly all of which are expanded with rare mixes and tracks making their CD and digital debuts. The new collection includes 84 rare and previously unreleased bonus tracks including the "Great Lost Isley Brothers Album" Wild In Woodstock: The Isley Brothers Live At Bearsville Sound Studio 1980, a live studio double album now newly restored.

Albums are:
Shout! (RCA Victor, 1959)
It's Our Thing (T-Neck, 1969)
The Brothers: Isley (T-Neck, 1969)
The Isley Brothers Live At Yankee Stadium (T-Neck, 1969)
Get Into Something (T-Neck, 1970)
In The Beginning The Isley Brothers & Jimi Hendrix (T-Neck, recorded 1964-1965; remixed/released 1971)
Givin' It Back (T-Neck, 1971)
Brother, Brother, Brother (T-Neck, 1972)
The Isleys Live (T-Neck, 1973)
3+3 (T-Neck, 1973)
Live It Up (T-Neck, 1974)
The Heat Is On (T-Neck, 1975)
Harvest For The World (T-Neck, 1976)
Go For Your Guns (T-Neck, 1977)
Showdown (T-Neck, 1978)
Winner Takes All (T-Neck, 1979 2 CDs)
Go All The Way (T-Neck, 1980)
Wild In Woodstock: The Isley Brothers Live At Bearsville Studios 1980 (previously unreleased)
Grand Slam (T-Neck, 1981)
Inside You (T-Neck, 1981)
The Real Deal (T-Neck, 1982)
Between The Sheets (T-Neck, 1983)

I swore, not another CD, but I have to have this.