Derek and The Dominos, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs: 40th Anniversary Edition (Polydor/UMe)
Unbeknownst to us at Second Disc HQ, a lot of weird stuff has been going on with this deluxe edition. It seems that, for whatever reason, the 2-CD edition of this set is retailing only at Best Buy until April 26, at which point it'll be released more widely. No extra material seems to be present, just a lengthy lead time in terms of exclusivity. Weird, man. And of course there's that super-deluxe box set, too. (Amazon: Deluxe Edition, Box Set)
Pearl Jam, Vs. / Vitalogy: Expanded Editions (Epic/Legacy)
The Seattle rock legends expand their second and third albums with bonus tracks. A box set collects those three albums with an (almost-complete), widely-sought after live show. A bigger box adds an insane amount of stuff on vinyl, cassette (cassette? cassette!) and more. (Official site)
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, Let Love In / Murder Ballads / The Boatman's Call / No More Shall We Part: Deluxe Editions (Mute)
Another batch of CD/DVD editions from the British singer/songwriter. B-sides, videos and surround mixes abound. (Official site)
The Contours, Dance with The Contours (Ace/Kent)
Do you love it? An unreleased album by one of Motown's earliest chartbusters! (Ace)
Pete Yorn, Musicforthemorningafter: 10th Anniversary Edition (Columbia/Legacy)
A two-disc deluxe edition of Yorn's seminal debut, featuring unreleased studio and live material. (Amazon)
Billy Squier, Essential Billy Squier (EMI/Capitol)
A new hits disc from Mr. Stroke himself. (Amazon)
Teddy Pendergrass, Live in '82 (Shout! Factory)
It's a love T.K.O.! The late, great soul singer is immortalized in concert on DVD - one of his last before an injury altered his career. (Shout! Factory)
Florence + The Machine, Between Two Lungs (Universal Republic)
An expanded import of the band's impressive debut Lungs comes to American shores. (Official site)
Various Artists, Mad Men: A Musical Companion (1960-1965) (Hip-O/UMe)
Though the critically-acclaimed show has an uncertain future, fans can use this compilation, featuring classics of the period, to pass the time. (Amazon)
Various Artists, The Music Never Stopped: Music from the Motion Picture (Rhino)
Rhino temporarily comes out of hiding for this film soundtrack, featuring several unreleased Grateful Dead live tracks. (Amazon)
Release Round-Up: Week of April 19
Mind Games: Universal's Record Store Day Lineup Includes Beatles, Elton, The Who, John Lennon, Charlie Parker, U2, Ringo Starr, "Wicked", Frank Zappa, More
The Weekend Stream: November 4, 2023
Interesting about Derek & the Dominos and the Best Buy exclusive. The forthcoming 5.1 mix of Rush's "Moving Pictures" has a similar deal but only with the blu-ray package. The blu-ray will only be available at Best Buy until May and there is no extra bonus material. I've cancelled my Amazon order so I guess BB will get a sale they otherwise wouldn't. Apparently the dvd version will be available everywhere when it is released.
RE: The Layla set, it looks like something funny's going on, and it's *possible* that the 2-CD set is nowhere to be found in stores today.
I noticed the strange "exclusive" two days ago when I looked thru BB's Sunday ad. But now this morning I'm checking bestbuy.com, and something interesting happened. First, when I did a keyword search for "Derek" and "Layla" (cuz I'm lazy like that), the 2-CD Deluxe Edition didn't even appear in the results. I thought "Aha! You're NOT releasing it on 3/29, despite what the Sunday ad showed."
So I check the Weekly Ad again, and the Deluxe Edition is still listed there at $19.99 (with a 3/29 release date), so I click to get more info on the item...and it transfers me to the $13.99 single-disc release. o.O
So, this is just a roundabout way of warning potential release-day shoppers to be prepared for clueless employees and empty shelves.
The "exclusive" 2-CD set was indeed on Best Buy's website as recently as Sunday evening, but lo and behold, it certainly is nowhere in sight now. Everything about the "Layla" campaign gets stranger and stranger each day...
Best Buy has a similar exclusivity window on the CD/Blu-Ray edition of Rush's "Moving Pictures." The CD+DVD-A will be available everywhere next Tuesday, but the CD/Blu-Ray will be available only at Best Buy until May 3.
This whole Best Buy thing irks me, not the least of which because I've stopped buying there entirely (had a particularly bad experience last Saturday involving a camera battery and some abysmal customer service - I blew my last gift cards on some box sets and booked outta there).
If you follow the link for the Nick Cave reissues the site says the discs are coming May 16. Who has made the mistake? If they're available a month and a half earlier I'm not complaining.
When I was writing this post (last night), Amazon had these in for today, which corroborated the posts I had originally read about these reissues from a few other sources. Now they're "not in stock; order now and we'll deliver when available." At the risk of sounding like a complainer, this is by far the worst thing about following reissues. Street dates are insanely fluid. Can you imagine this happening with a modern pop act?
Concerning Best Buy (oxymoron?) and "day of release"...I went into one of our BBs on "day of" for Bruce's Darkness box. You know, the one EVERYBODY was talking or writing about for months previous. It was nowhere (!) to be found on the shelves and two different "customer service" professionals didn't have a clue as to what I was even talking about. Totally frustrated, I asked if there was a music dept. supervisor I could ask and they reluctantly went to find her. She, thankfully, was very aware of the release, but shrugged off the fact it wasn't out on the shelves. "Oh, yeah, it's in the back somewhere. I'll get you one." She left and then returned with the Bruce box. I asked if she didn't think they should have it out, as the Sunday ad had touted the release and BBs' friendly price (about 30 bucks off list, if I remember correctly). She said they'd get around to it eventually, she didn't think they'd be selling that many. I thanked her for her help, and as I walked to the register I happened to see two more baby-boomer types (like me) searching up and down the sparse CD section aisles. Looking for Bruce? I would imagine so. The incredible discount on the pricey box was the only reason I was even there....and I imagine I'll return when price or availability of a piece (Layla?) dictates. Otherwise, it's our independent record dealers for me!
Sean, stories like this are why my decision to stop shopping at Best Buy was a long time coming. I was recently promoted to head of music/movies for another major retailer in my town, and I'm strictly required to have every new release on the floor by the time we open Tuesday, regardless of how many I think we'll sell. To do otherwise is an insult to people who patronize our business.
I'm not proud of this, but I must admit the only reason I'm still a "faithul" customer of BB at all is the frequently competitive first-week deals on new releases. If I had sufficient disposable income, I'd never stray from Amazon and the local independent stores.
Sean, I can speak from experience: if it's anything other than a massively popular, Eminem-style current release (i.e., what the "kids" are buying), save your time/sanity and make a beeline for the nearest employee, preferably one who actually works in the music section. I can practically guarantee that the item in question will be in one of two places: that classic "in the back" stocking area, or even more obnoxiously, on a miniature cart they use to wheel out the new product each week. Several times I've arrived on a Tuesday afternoon, and come across this cart sitting lonely between aisles, still fully loaded with many of the "lesser" new titles, as if to say "here's the crap you're looking for, but we can't be bothered to actually put it on the proper shelf." In fairness, I've also experienced this a few times at Target, so maybe it's just a sad commonality in the major-player big-box industry.
(Mike, THANK YOU for working at a store that actually makes an effort to be customer-ready when they open.)
(PS: As for BB, this doesn't even count the many times I've gone to a certain location specifically because their website said something was in stock there, only to have the employee fail to find the item in question (again, this tends to apply especially to brand-new titles of insufficient popularity). I never know whether to chalk this up to summer-job morons who can't find their thumbs, or a broken inventory system that can't decide which version of Layla I want.)
There's no doubt BB sucks, they have for years. But like you, I occasionally go there because the price is better or, in the case of Duran Duran last week, they have a cool exclusive.
However, I think the problem we're seeing now has more to do with the general decline in CD sales. Honestly, I think BB resents having a CD section in their stores at all at this point. There's no denying CD sales are way down except for die-hards like us. BB probably thinks, "Very few people even care about CDs, why should we?" Yes, the "stock cart" should not be sitting alone in the aisles on a Tuesday afternoon, but a few years ago, that same cart would have been picked clean by eager CD buyers by Tuesday afternoon. Now they're at home downloading.
OK, I just got back from BB. The D&D disc is the 2 disc version. Looks just like the picture at the top of this post.
To compound the BB issue with new releases not being on the floor to begin with is the recent downsizing of their floor area for the music department. It's becoming a question of not only where the new release is but whether they stock it at all.
Look no further than last week's release of Duran Duran's new album at Best Buy for an example of them botching their exclusives. Many stores only got one or two copies (despite the album being promoted in the Sunday ad), other stores didn't get them at all, and the BB web site switched the SKUs so that people who thought they were ordering the BB exclusive version were actually ordering the standard version.
Plus, on several forums I've read, people who DID manage to find a copy at BB report that the CD is full of static and noise... a bad pressing.
Major fail!
"Many stores only got one or two copies (despite the album being promoted in the Sunday ad)"
Funnily enough, the first time I noticed this being a problem for BB was the LAST time Layla got re-released (on Hybrid SACD). Clapton must be bad luck.
The Deluxe Edition of 461 Ocean Blvd had just come out at the same time, and I show up at a store only to learn I was too late for the *two* copies they had. I had the same thought as you, about the backwards logic of promoting an item, then failing to sufficiently stock it...I'd be suspicious of a bait-and-switch scheme, except I think the cashier was all too correct when she said they were taken by surprise at how many people had been coming in to ask for it.
It's like the marketing team (who's smart enough to appeal to niches like us) can't even coordinate with the ones in charge of stocking the actual product (who see non-chart-topping stuff as a distracting afterthought). I wouldn't mind the lack of product so much if they were just straightforward about it.
And switched SKUs? Sheesh.
Enough of this crap that record companies has gone to.
Don't support Best Buy, don't support Universal Music.
I love Clapton and Layla is one of my all time favorite LPs, but I won't be forced into being told where I have to buy it.
Downloading has never looked so good.