Question for member "Jimby" re: Elton unreleased SACDs

[JonUrban]

Jimby,

I found this info on the web:

The surround remixes of the remaining Steely Dan back cataogue albums were never made, because Universal refused to fund the remixes. The albums in question were "Can't Buy a Thrill", "Countown to Ecstacy", "The Royal Scam", "Pretzel Logic" & "Katy Lied" (but NOT "Aja" because the multitracks for several songs have never been found).

As for further Elton John titles, the mixes were completed but Universal declined to release them.

My question is this. Since the EJ mixes are done, and there is interest out there to fill in the missing pieces in the collection that UMG did release, why can't Universal create a limited run of these unreleased Eltons as SACDs (or DVD-A's to avoid the Sony cut), and sell them directly from the Universal Music store only.

No middle man, no distribution, Univesal would get the maximum return, and you could set the price at $29.95 or whatever, fully recouping the cost of the licensing and the manufacturing of these discs.

This could be a nice way to find out exactly if it is worth doing other titles such as the Steely Dans. If there is no response to this effort, then that's it. Close the door. However, I think you might be surprised at what may happen.

Just a thought..............

 

[soundboy]

Universal Music knows there's a market for surround sound SACDs, otherwise the company wouldn't have to import the Moody Blues SACD titles into the US. And given that the potential audience for Elton John is even bigger than that of the Moody Blues', I think it's really a "no brainer".

 

[Old Quad Guy]

The Elton John 5.1 mixes are great and very much in the spirit of Quadraphonic. Like Jon has mentioned before, if only these mixes we're released in Quad in the 1970's, it would have given Quad a huge boost - especially when you consider EJ's career rise in the mid to late 70's and the demographics of us young people back then getting into his music.

It makes no sense to release all his records in SACD, but skip "Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player" and "Caribou." "Rock of the Westies" and "Blue Moves" in 5.1 would be great to have as well.

"Sorry Seems to Be the Hardest Word" from "Blue Moves" seemed to me at the time to be the theme song for the beginning of the end of the 1970's. And it was played to death on AM Radio every hour, on the hour on KFRC.