- Ben Folds has previously hinted at a vault-clearing project of some type, and he elaborated on the set in a recent interview on Australia's Triple J Radio. According to Folds, the set will comprise three discs' worth of rarities, live material and a hits compilation. The centerpiece of the material, Folds said, is newly-discovered tapes - originally feared lost when a flood damaged his Nashville studio - of rough mixes intended for a fourth Ben Folds Five album. He said the set would arrive in late November (no word on a label, though his onetime home of Epic and/or Legacy would be a natural fit as catalogue goes).
- You've heard a lot of talk from us about the Tim Burton/Danny Elfman box set. Why not hear some from the composer himself? Our friend Mike Ragogna (a name reissue buffs might recognize for production and liner notes for several of the major labels) interviewed Elfman for his regular Huffington Post column, which you can read here.
- Matt Rowe took to another platform other than MusicTAP for this one: in this article, he notes that Carly Simon signed a new deal earlier this year with BMG Chrysalis that includes a new agreement for back catalogue distribution. He further postulates that next year marks the 40th anniversary of Simon's signature song, "You're So Vain," and the album it came from, No Secrets (1972). Could Matt be on to something?
- Finally, if you're in the New York City area, you might want to check this out: Pop Market, our favorite purveyor of Sony-distributed box sets, is setting up a pop-up store in Soho through the end of June! Located at the Morrison Hotel Gallery on Prince Street, the store will feature deals much like the website along some neat in-store events in June. Hours will be Wednesdays and Fridays from noon to 8 pm, Thursdays and Saturdays from noon to 7 pm and Sundays from noon to 6 pm through June 30.
Man, am I in for the Folds box set. An unreleased BF5 album!!!
I'm with you, RS! The band played a few songs intended for the fourth album during their last few shows, and even though there aren't any superb recordings of any of them, they're killer songs. Darren and Robert were starting to add more material to the set list (Darren's "Emelia Bright" is sublime), and I've heard that "Carrying Cathy," later on Folds' "Rockin' the Suburbs," was also up for inclusion.
Last I recall Ben talked about those sessions, he said there wasn't much other than recordings straight off the mixing board in-studio, and thus not much to work with. I'm glad to find out he's since found out he got more than he thought!
Speaking of Carrying Cathy, just the other day I happened to be listening to BF5's Selfless, Cold And Composed, and I realized that quite a bit of the melody sounds ridiculously similar to CC. I don't mean that as a complaint; I'm just starting to wonder if the latter song was a "rewrite" of sorts. Am I crazy? 🙂