Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

Yes, this puts it far more eloquently than the silly argument BrotherLovesDub and I got into. I do think it's important to voice opinions and worries about the access of music they are offering to fans, especially somewhere that is read by the band and their associates. Maybe they'll read this and change things in the future, and I think that'll be worth all the bitching and baby crying and so on.

ThingInABook - I run a very tiny label and I've released records in far smaller runs than this was released in with large artwork booklets, sold them for £5 and made a profit, so I'm still not sure how justified the price is. Thanks for the description, Dirty0900, that does at least make it sound worth the money on some level. If I was a fan of Karl's art, I suppose the price might be a bit more sensible. I do wish they'd make the music available independently from the catalogue, though, especially considering that it evidently wasn't all recorded for the exhibition.

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

Rick was originally going to let Karl do his own thing for the exhibition, and not be involved, but Karl specifically asked Rick to put together this album from his ambient works for the exhibition.

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

I remember, I bought one from you once. Good stuff! Proper CD, proper colour card sleeve, a fiver. great value. I'm not saying this album should be a fiver but i see your example as a valid point.

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

For anyone interested, it's back on sale at the shop. (and I caved in and ended up purchasing it)

Thoughts about formats, and limited editions
 

again, who is too decide whether every and all music that they
create will ever be released? and in what format?

just because it wasn't all recorded for the exhibition,
what difference does that make concerning it's status as
released for the exhbit only? [again i refer to earlier releases
like the anti-rom]

i'm sure there's a lot of licensing issues, and other things
involved with making a limited run of material available,
and the complexity of including and printing a book..

if you look back to the tokyo 3cd live concert, yeah it was too
bad that it only got released at that show... but maybe it was
a test run for the later series at liveherenow? and a few people
were fortunate enough to get extra copies from the band off ebay..

should they just never have released it?

anyways .. 'limited' is just that , a fixed amount made for a special
occasion.... i don't think this release, or dialogue should dissuade
them from doing further projects like this in the future...

---------------------------
in the end, they really can't win..

1) release something online only -> people complain that there isn't a physical release
(see riverrun series, alll the latest singles from 'barking')

2) release something physical only -> people complain that it isn't available digitally
(see the BWS album+book, tokyo 3xcd, underworld video compilations)

3) release something in vinyl only -> people complain that it isn't digital format
(some of the riverun singles, although most have been converted over now)

4) release something limited -> people complain about the price, and how hard it
is to get it, and in what formats etc... (the barking limited editions w/extra cd)

so looking at all the different combinations of how they could release something,
to make people 'happy'..

it boils down to releasing everything digitally, on vinyl, cd, and at a cheap cost..
which i just don't see happening anytime..

by the way, i'm not sure what arrangements bjork/depeche mode/pet shop boys
have... but they have been putting out a ton of singles, box sets, and all kinds of
other fancy formats of all the above for the last couple of albums... i'm sure they
have a larger audience, so that's something to take into account too..and also, their
limited editions are not 'cheap' either...

later
-1

Re: Thoughts about formats, and limited editions
 

I don't see why not. I mean, you really only need one physical format but really, how hard can it be to put this online for download. They have an online shop in place, it's just a matter of ripping the CD. I mean I really cannot see how it could take more than a few hours.

Re: Thoughts about formats, and limited editions
 

if it really was that easy, don't you think they would have
done it already?

did you miss the part about licensing, distribution,
the artists intent, etc. etc..

i used to help out with the website for the band KMFDM,
and it took them awhile to get online tracks, the online store,
and a lot of other things done.. i remember it was difficult from
a legal/license viewpoint to do a lot of things.. (especially the
artwork part , because they had to deal with the artist BRUTE separately)..

just because it's easy to do, doesn't mean
it's easy TO GET DONE...

there's a lot more factors involved..

later
-1

Re: Thoughts about formats, and limited editions
 

Once you have decent infrastructure set up to put one item up for sale digitally, it's trivial to add more. And licensing etc shouldn't be a problem either, since it's their work and their sales outlet. I don't know why they haven't done it already, but yeah, it really is that easy.

Re: Thoughts about formats, and limited editions
 

The difference it makes is that it seems the catalogue is what's making it expensive - what's stopping them releasing the music on its own? If it was written and recorded specifically for the exhibition then maybe that would make more sense, but as the albums is compiled from existing music, I can't see why it can't be made available separate to the artwork.

I'm sure there's not a lot of licensing issues involved with making a limited run of material available. Having done it a few times myself, I know the costs involved and how easy it is. The only thing stopping them from doing it is not wanting to.
Releasing everything digitally and on CD at a cheap cost is not difficult or expensive. If there's enough call for it - which, as you've handily pointed out - there seems to be, maybe they should consider it.
Or maybe they really shouldn't care what their fans think and release what they want how they want. I'd personally prefer a band to take into account what their fans are saying. I'd personally prefer a band not to charge £30 for an hour's music if it's the only way of getting hold of it. I think it would be very decent of them to offer music at a more 'normal' price. The same as I think it would be very decent of the other bands you mentioned to do so too. Which, various other arguments and tangents aside, is the basic point here: they could make this music available to people who really want to hear it but can't afford to pay 3-4 times the normal amount for it, and they're choosing not to. Some people seem to think that's ok, others think it's not.

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

Totally. Was just speaking for myself and do see your point. As I said, better digital-only at a reasonable price than not being able to hear it at all.

Riverrun, to me, went under 'something they did because they always wanted to'. Although it surely is significant for their ambient catalogue and I do like bits of it, I never got quite into it. And this is partly due to it not being a physical, 'proper' release. If I think of Underworld albums, it's the six official studio works on CD, not including the Riverruns. Additionally, I'm all for the banging, patterns-y stuff. :)

Point taken. So I should speak of 'non-physical releases'. CDs only because I grew up with the idea that an album is something you buy, hold in your hand, (rip to your hard drive,) and put on the shelf. I understand it's irrational and antique, and don't attempt to treat this view as universal.

Re: Thoughts about formats, and limited editions
 

I understand that, but what exactly would be holding up UW? Don't they own their own stuff? Once their website is set up why would it take more than a day (or, more realistically, an hour or two) to add new material?

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

This still has not arrived and that "posted" email went out on 11/24. What the hell...:confused::mad::confused:

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

For packages sent from the UK, it usually takes about 3 weeks for them to reach me.

Re: Thoughts about formats, and limited editions
 

Now, now. We wouldn't want this to go live without the copyright lawyers having a profound, reassuring (read: costly) look at it, would we?

:p

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

Has anyone else (especially in the US) NOT received yours yet??!?:confused::(:(:(:(:(:(:(:mad:

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

Hasn't shown up in Chicago, but Barking took over a month to arrive, so I'm not panicking yet.

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

Los Angeles, CA here and no CD or Book yet... :(

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

That makes me feel a bit better then (I guess).:):):(:)

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

I live in the UK, & have happily recieved mine.

On the price discussion, it is worth what people will pay for it. The market will set the price.

I have on had chance to have a cursory look at the book, & haven't played the cd yet. I like the bundle together though.

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

A friend of mine in Massachusetts received his today, so they are finally hitting the U.S.

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

I received a confirmation of shipment via Royal Mail yesterday so I'm hoping to be getting mine soon. :D

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

wow, "Dreeve" is really creeping me out. Anyone want to try to transcribe that???

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

showed up in seattle today

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

mine showed up today also.. (east coast, usa)..

thanks underworld for the great pre-christmas
delivery...

and yeah, i cut it close.. got to the post office
1 minute after they closed.. but they were nice
enough to get it for me...otherwise i would have
had to wait for a couple weeks (going on vacation)..

haven't listened to it yet.. will do that soon..

but after all this time i think in all fairness for the price of the book
and the music, it's a great package.... and well worth it.

got number 462 for me, and 463 for my brother..

later
-1

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

...and I just noticed the "winjer" bits

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

I too have received mine today. :):):):cool::):):)

I too had but less than a minute to chase down the mail woman as she drove back down the other side of the street after seeing the dreaded "Sorry we missed you!" card. If I had arrived home any later then that then I'd have been fucked............:eek:

I too have not listened to it yet, because I decided that there's nothing else I want as bad for Christmas ( :D ) and that I should in essense torture myself longer by wrapping it up and saving it under the Christmas tree. :(:)

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

I think BWS is a fantastic piece of work! It shows off the side of Underworld / Rick
that I tend to like the most. I listen to it on the train from work all the time! In fact,
the ratio of BWS to Barking plays is easily over 10-1 for me!

- It might have been mentioned somewhere earlier in this thread, so I appologize if it
has, but the high pitched vocal parts in "Dreeve" and "(Soundtrack for the film) Van
Halen Van Halen" were conversations between Rick and John Warwicker that were
recorded (by Rick) as they walked around Soho about 15 years ago. I got that
straight from the horse`s (Warwicker`s) mouth!

Knowing the above puts everything in better context, and makes understanding what
they are talking about, and who is saying what, a lot easier. I`ve listened to Dreeve
pretty closely and you can understand most of it! They are basically having a light
conversation about graphic art, music, etc... Again, many probably already know
about the conversations, but for those that don`t I think this is a truly fascinating part
of the album, and (for the parts that can be understood) it opens a small and brief
window into what was going on back then in Rick and John`s mind, while at the
same time leaving out any specific references to pieces of art/music that they were
working on at the time!

btw - It seems that Rick used to have a dog named "Bill";)

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

Mine arrived today in Phoenix, Arizona...really top notch book. I got #495.

Jason

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

I never realised the books were numbered. Where are they tagged? being daft here.

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

That's what my book "says":

THIS CATALOGUE IS NUMBER:
/ 1000

:confused:
:rolleyes:

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

Mine is blank to.

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

likewise.

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

finally got around to listening to it..
(ironically it was the mp3 versions that i re-encoded)...

yeah, its very cool to here some of the early experimental
sounds from them... i'm not sure i could listen to it a whole
bunch of times in a row though.. i prefer the more 'active' tracks
compared to the ambient ones.. also hearing the samples used
in their live shows and other tracks was really cool..
i couldn't keep the names straight, but i liked tokyo_london 2/3/dreeve
and van halen van halen..

still, it just show how versatile they are, and how creative they
can be..

hopefully there will be other cool projects released in the future..

later
-1

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

Got mine. 280 is the number

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

I love this record so much. I think it's beautiful almost beyond description. Rick's unique use of the female computer voice has made her almost like a performer in her own right. Bungalow With Stairs is like her solo album with music by Underworld.

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

0497/1000.

I've yet to listen to the CD, but I'm very intrigued with the book. ;)

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

0496/1000

I have to say that I like Karl Hyde's work in this show much better than any of the art done for Underworld in recent years. IMHO the pieces stand surprisingly well on their own, sans celebrity factor.

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

I totally agree. I finally listened to the album. There's a lot more dialogue than I was expecting. I did like the recognizable elements. Overall, I liked it a lot. :D

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

Got mine too!

Re: Bungalow with Stairs album
 

0401/1000.