Super-reissues of recordings are groovin’ and movin’
What do you give the music lover who has everything? This season, the answer is a favorite album รณ only repackaged with all sorts of added goodies.
Thrift may be in fashion, but consumers are still willing to fork over $100 or more for deluxe reissues of beloved recordings. And they’re not just paying for fancy wrapping paper: At their best, these gifts can offer fresh insights into classic works and the artists who created them.
The year’s hottest item is Bruce Springsteen’s The Promise: The Darkness on the Edge of Town Story. The three-CD, three-DVD set includes a remastered version of the Boss’ groundbreaking 1978 album along with previously unreleased songs and studio and live footage. It’s the year’s fastest-selling box set and is ranked No. 2 among this year’s releases on Metacritic, the online aggregator of music reviews.
Admirers of the Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Miles Davis, David Bowie and The Who also can purchase packages that turn old albums into multimedia shrines, complete with books, photos, T-shirts and recordings of live performances and other new or previously unreleased material.
Kevin Gore, who as president of Rhino Records has unveiled deluxe reissues of The Monkees, Pantera and cult singer/songwriters Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett, stresses that the first priority is always “to get the music right. Then you also have to provide a deeper experience. You assume that anyone buying has the original album, and that you need to make it worth their while.”
Journalist Anthony DeCurtis, who wrote liner notes for the Stones’ Exile on Main Street reissue, says such releases are “designed for an audience that isn’t going to bat an eye at the price, and they usually don’t have to sell that many to turn a profit.”
Record companies also seek to “reach people at different price points,” DeCurtis notes, by making abbreviated versions of the reissue packages available.
In all cases, Gore says, the goal is “to never shortchange people, because then you won’t get that pass-along factor. They won’t talk up (the reissue) in an online review or at a cocktail party, and won’t come back for more.”
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