When a lack of sleeve notes gets really silly.....

[LeMartinPecheur]

LP sleeve-notes revisited...

I recently stumbled across a very variegated selection of classical LPs in an Exeter charity shop and among my purchases was Alkan's Sonata 'Les quatre ages' on a nice clean HQS pressing.

Got home to find <dohicon> that I already had this on an EMI Doublefforte CD-set. But where the LP has an excellent long analytical/ explanatory sleeve-note by its pianist Ronald Smith, the CD reissue has a very short, very unanalytical page covering all its contents, possibly 3 LPs-worth, with just a few basic historical facts.

So £1 very well spent despite the memory-failure, and now my mate won't be getting the 'spare' LP!

[gurnemanz]

I enter the details of all new recordings I acquire onto a database catalogue to which you can add your own notes, artist details etc. Review sites frequently also contain very useful background details when sleeve notes are lacking.

[Dave2002]

Update: had a nice email back from Decca. Nice to see some good customer services from the oft-derided majors.

Dear Mr Broucek,

Thank you for your email. I’m sorry to learn of your disappointment with this product.

As you note, this is a (super-)budget reissue; releases at this price point generally have track-listings only (though our Virtuoso series does incorporate liner notes).

You have a point regarding the non-canonical presentation of the repertoire, and I will pass on your comments to our Australian team who are behind the Eloquence series.

I would be pleased to offer you Abbado’s set of the Schuberts with the Chamber Orchestra of Europe by way of compensation upon receipt of your address.

Yours sincerely,

Julian Forbes

DECCA CLASSICS

This seems to be simply restating the problem. Who decides that "releases at this price point generally have track-listings only"?

Bit like - "We sell shoddy goods at low prices". "Your goods are shoddy". "The goods you bought were at low prices" .... Call that treating customers reasonably?

Next thing they'll start pointing out "industry practice", and "our competitors don't do this" etc.

At least you did apparently get something worthwhile in compensation after your complaint though. Well done.

[Ferretfancy]

I have both the Mercury boxes and the Decca Sound collections, although I already have a high proportion of their contents.. In the case of the Mercury collections there are a number of CDs not included that I have managed to locate elsewhere. The problem is, of course, that the box collections have no notes on the music, although they do have nice background essays on the history of the companies. This means that I will have to retain the original CD issues duplicated on my shelves.
I suppose I should resist the lure of bumper editions, but they are very nice artifacts !

[mathias broucek]

For me it's all about context. No notes for a regular Schubert symphony cycle isn't a biggie as basic info is easy to find. Similarly, no text and translation for the Mozart Requiem.

It's far more of a problem where the music is unfamiliar or a non-standard edition of a classic (e.g. the Marriner/Newbould Schubert cycle). Similarly no text/translation is a problem for unfamiliar music - particularly if it's still in copyright and therefore can't be found online.

[Sir Velo]

As you note, this is a (super-)budget reissue; releases at this price point generally have track-listings only (though our Virtuoso series does incorporate liner notes).

I wonder if the record company guys ever stop to think that if they provided decent liner notes that the corresponding increase in sales would more than cover the additional costs of producing this material? Actual costs of paper and printing are minimal and one can see no reason, where these are reissues, that the original notes cannot be reused, thereby saving on commissioning new essays etc.

[mathias broucek]

I wonder if the record company guys ever stop to think that if they provided decent liner notes that the corresponding increase in sales would more than cover the additional costs of producing this material? Actual costs of paper and printing are minimal and one can see no reason, where these are reissues, that the original notes cannot be reused, thereby saving on commissioning new essays etc.

Hard to argue. Even a URL would be an upgrade.....